The Meatco Board held its Special Members’ meeting on 26 October 2018. The meeting aimed at providing feedback on the turnaround strategy of the business to members’ as per the resolutions adopted at the 22^nd June 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Thereafter, the Chairperson convened a second meeting of the designate interest group (commercial farmers) in accordance with section 5(3) of the Meatco Act, Act 1 of 2001 at which the designate members’ nominated four nominees for the portfolio Minister’s Hon. (Alpheus !Naruseb, Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry) further consideration in terms of the law and appointment of one of the nominees as a Director to represent Commercial Farmers' interests on the Meatco Board of Directors.

Below is a snapshot of the four nominees’ profiles:

Nominee1.  Dr Charl-Thom H Bayer- Currently a commercial farmer at Farm Aroams in the Rehoboth Constituency, Namibia. Produces commercial cattle for Meatco’s export market and is a registered Stud Breeder of Brahman, Charolais and Chianina cattle. Dr Bayer currently heads the LPI-NELGA Land Governance Project by leading a multi-country research team of researchers from all SADC countries to produce a conference and edited book on land governance in Southern Africa.  He furthermore heads the Department of Land and Property Science at the Namibia University of Science and Technology.

Additionally, he has been the President of the Chianina Cattle Breeders Association of Namibia from 2016 until now. Dr Bayer also worked as a Consultant at Geo-Informatics Namibia, from September 2001.   He has completed a Master’s in Spatial Information Science and Earth Observation at the Institute of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation in the Netherlands at which he was awarded a distinction in 2001. He was also awarded for Top Regional Producer in the Live Sales Category-Hardap Region at the Meatco Producer of the Year Awards (POYA) in 2017. Lastly, he presented a report at the World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty in Washington DC, United States, on Leasehold Rights, Small-scale Farmers and Good Governance in March 2018.

Nominee 2. Mr. Heiko Rainer Binding - Is Currently a Commercial farmer, owner and consultant at HR Binding. Mr Binding has been in the cattle farming and wildlife tourism industry since 2015. He further conducted a pre-feasibility study for the Rehoboth Agricultural Sewage Re-use in 2015 and formed part of various consultancies for a Canadian customer on adding value to meat plants in Namibia.

In 2009, he gave recommendations on the future of Hoodia for the Rural Poverty Reduction Programme. He consulted on the Land Reform study for the University of Cape Town, PLAAS Project. In 2007, he was a part-time economist at government level for Due Diligence process of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Lastly, Mr Binding holds a Masters in Commercial Agricultural Economics from the University of Pretoria which he obtained in 1995.

Nominee 3. Mr Wilfried Pack- Is a commercial farmer by profession and was formerly employed in Germany for three years through which he gained practical farming experience. He then came back to Namibia to take over the farming business from his father. Mr Pack completed his secondary education at Deutsche Hӧhere Privatschule (DHPS) and holds a Bachelor of Economics, which he obtained from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

Nominee 4. Mr Kay-Dieter Rumpf - Is a commercial farmer who has been delivering cattle to Meatco loyally for the past 28 years. In 2000, Mr Rumpf was appointed as Master Agronomist by the Agronomic Board of Namibia. He is the Director and Co-owner of a Namibian charcoal packaging plant and export company. He has been involved in the Namibian and Southern African agricultural sector as Vice-Chairperson of the Animal Health Consultative Forum from 2015 to 2016. He is currently the Chairperson of the Steinhausen Farmers Association. Mr Rumpf was also the Chairperson of the Gobabis Regional Agricultural Union (GRAU) from 2005 to 2008.   He was also a committee member of the Omaheke Border Affairs Maintenance Committee from 2004 to 2005.

In addition, he was the Chairperson of the Livestock Producers’ Organisation from 2008 to 2012.  He holds an N5 Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, obtained from the Benoni Technical College in Johannesburg, South Africa, and in 1991, he obtained qualification as a Fitter and Turner Artisan at the Atlas Aircraft Corporation in Johannesburg, South Africa.