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Charity Mathema
IF you live in Bulawayo and you love buying beef from street vendors, chances are high that you have sampled donkey meat!
The eerie sight of skinned donkey carcasses found in Cowdray Park on Sunday is giving credence to the notion that low-priced “beef” sold from pavements in the city may not be what it is supposed to be.
The images that went viral have upset tummies and made some people wish to turn vegetarians in the city.
Those residents who have decided to go vegan could be justified as in 2017, the Bulawayo City Council raided a homeless Bulawayo man identified only as Ndebele who was selling dog meat from condemned carcasses taken from a municipal dump site.
He was skinning carcasses of dogs that would have been put down by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and selling the meat to unsuspecting residents and restaurant owners.
The donkey saga further exposes the danger of buying meat from unregistered sources.
“I think the meat that is being sold from houses in the new stands and pavements in town is suspect. On Sunday we found two donkeys that had been cut up and the people who did it left only the head and intestines. I think this is the cheap meat we are buying on the streets. The police should intervene,” fumed Emanuel Tshuma a resident at Cowdray Park’s Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai Segment 3, where the donkeys were found.
Ellen Moyo said she threw up after she saw the videos of the slain donkeys.
She said she now understood why the city council was fighting so hard to eliminate unlicensed meat vendors.
“This is very disgusting! I have been vomiting continuously since I saw that video on Tuesday. People are very evil. How can they make us eat donkeys of all things? Maybe we have eaten dogs and other nauseating creatures unknowingly. Obviously, they could not sell us the head because it can’t be mistaken for anything else. I don’t think I’ll ever eat red meat again for as long as I live,” she said, her face a mask of revulsion.
Mkhululi Sibanda said: “Nothing beats the succulent, juicy low priced ‘beef’ sold by vendors on Bulawayo streets. Added to that, meat sold in registered butcheries lacks ‘that flavour thing’ found at backyard dollar-deal food outlets. That is what I used to say. Now that I know better, I’m so hurt in so many ways you can’t understand.”
Bongiwe Ngwenya who lives in the city centre said anyone who has eaten meat in Bulawayo cannot, with conviction, say they have not eaten donkey meat.
“As long as you have eaten a meal from backyard restaurants in Bulawayo, odds are high that you have sampled donkey meat and enjoyed it. Look at the official price of beef and the gargantuan portions you get for just US$1 at those places. Do you honestly think those people would make a profit if they were selling real beef?” she asked.
“People are just being dramatic. What is wrong with donkey meat? It is a delicacy in many Asian, European, and African countries, even in parts of neighbouring Botswana. It is a great red colour and has less cholesterol than beef, therefore it reduces the chances of heart disease. It should be made an official dish for the health of citizens,” quipped Bongiwe.
Commenting on the issue Bulawayo’s director of health services Edwin Nkosinathi Sibanda-Mzingwane said: “There is no law against selling donkey meat but the law states that meat must be bought from inspected sources like licensed butcheries. There is no disease which is associated with eating donkey meat as it is consumed in other countries. However, donkeys are prone to diseases and are at a high risk of being attacked by ticks as they are not dipped like cattle.
“We urge residents to desist from buying meat from uninspected sources as some of these animals could have been stored in contaminated places or they could have died from unknown diseases,” he said.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said there has not been an official report regarding the issue and urged members of the public to keep safe by buying from registered butcheries.
Cowdray Park legislator Arthur Mujeyi said he intends to engage residents over the issue.
Online Reporter
