By Poloko Mokhele
The Basotho Fruit and Vegetable Canners – a government facility once a renowned processed fruits and vegetables supplier – is lying in a state of disuse, and rapidly depreciating due to negligence.
Established in 1975, the facility was meant to empower farmers and ensure credible market access for their products in the canning business for both local and international markets.
In its heyday, the facility situated in Masianokeng wholly owned by the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) was known for producing among others canned peaches, asparagus, baked beans and tomato puree for local and export markets for many years.
It was, however, closed down in 2015 due to an assortment of challenges such as mismanagement. Today, the buildings are covered in weeds and are dilapidated due to lack of maintenance.
A large portion of the corrugated iron roofing is rusting, glass and wooden doors broken due to heavy winds, fire extinguishers no longer functional. Water supply has been cut off while at night the building is covered in darkness as there is no power supply and light bulbs are damaged.
When theReporter crew visited the facility this week, it was greeted by the sight of a typical abandoned property – weeds in practically every inch of the premises.
A security guard posted at the facility said: “The state of this building is really depressing, there is no water, electricity or even a toilet, and I have to get all those services at the nearby filling station when I am on duty.
“My duty here is to ensure that the building is safe from trespassers.”
Asked why the weeds are not cleared, she quipped: “no, that is not part of my duty.” The guard revealed that she always has to be armed when patrolling the area as it teems with potentially deadly snakes and other scary wild animals.”
In April 2021, LNDC invited interested bidders to establish a partnership with it to operationalise the facility.
“The LNDC wished to establish a strategic partnership with the private sector to operationalise the Basotho Fruit and Vegetable Canners in a manner that would ensure adequate throughput into the facility, among other things, and support local farmers appropriately.”
The facility still has appropriate infrastructure and is certified to continue with processing and canning operations potentially with minor enhancements to accommodate further products that can be secured in Lesotho for processing and canning, the investment promotion body said.
Efforts to get a comment from LNDC this week regarding future plans for Basotho Canners proved fruitless, as the public relations manager had not replied to the questions sent to her by the time of going to print.
A former employee of the facility, ‘Maphooko Phooko told theReporter on Wednesday that she believes the major reason that led to the collapse of the facility was lack of enough fruits and vegetables supply to the facility.
“I worked there for a number of years until it was shut down, I cannot even remember the exact year I started. I was part of the management and there was also a time I acted as the managing director, but it was for a short period of time.
“In one year you would find that it operated for less than six months because the fruits and vegetables that needed to be processed like peaches and asparagus were seasonal, so between February and April when there was a good supply of peaches that is when they would be a lot of work. Then in October we would start preparing for the processing of asparagus, so I think this could be one of the reasons that led to the shut down because if we worked for certain months it means profits will also suffer.”
Asked what she thought could be done to revive the facility, Phooko said the biggest challenge was lack of supplies, and government needs to first ensure there is adequate supply.
“The only way the cannery can operate again is if there is input from the farmers. Government or anyone who manages it should first ensure that there will be enough supply of products that will last for a longer time, to keep the company running. Otherwise there won’t be any change if they do not do that,” she said.
A resident of Masianokeng who also worked as one of labourer in the cannery’s manufacturing department, ‘Makabelo Rantŝo, said although they worked part-time during the processing of fruits and vegetables, the wages they got helped them a lot.
“We worked long hours – from 7:00am to 7:00pm especially when there were a lot of fruits that needed to be peeled.
“In some cases we would work have night shifts or on weekends when there was a lot to do. The wages were not satisfactory, given the amount of work we had to do. However, it still helped a lot because we were able to feed our families.”
She lamented that the closure of the cannery brought misery to local residents as it was their source of hope.
“A lot of nearby people depended on it for jobs because some of us are old and jobs are hard to come by; I wish government could sell it to someone who can revive it because it is a huge facility that can create a lot of jobs,” she said.
