NSPCA
The National Council of SPCA's has welcomed an announcement by the company Al Mawashi that it has not received an order from Kuwait to continue exporting live animals from South Africa, especially sheep.
The animals are currently transported by sea to the Middle East.
The NSPCA says Al Mawashi has blamed Transnet, the SA meat Industry, and the Department of Agriculture for this, with reference to them 'dragging their feet' in terms of guidelines for the transportation of live animals by sea being incomplete.
However, the NSPCA says this is a victory for the animals.
Spokesperson, Keshvi Nair says going forward, animals will be exported from Australia.
"Since 2019, the NSPCA has fought tirelessly to protect animals from being exported live by sea", said Marcelle Meredith, Executive Director of the NSPCA.
But, in a subsequent statement, Al Mawashi said the NSPCA's statement suggesting that live exports will no longer be undertaken "is untrue."
"Al Mawashi SA provided a Q1 market update in good faith to inform the market that no live exports will take place in the first three months of the year, and we ventilated legitimate concerns on industry and regulatory issues that need urgent attention. The NSPCA deliberately misconstrued this information to fit their own narrative.'
"Live exports will always remain Al Mawashi SA's core business, and the company is not going anywhere any time soon. Al Mawashi SA is free to plan abs undertake live exports if orders for livestock are received from Middle East countries.
"Al Mawashi SA encourages media, donors, SPCA branches, and the public to hold the NSPCA CEO and communications intern to task when live export shipments are carried out later this year for their very misleading claims and deliberate misconstruction of facts to manufacture a false narrative that the SA Middle East live exports industry is collapsing."
"The red meat industry and government have indicated it will oppose NSPCA's Part B litigation, and there is a united compact between role players to ensure that live exports flourish in SA, and it remains firmly intact," Al Mawashi said.
