Another day, another email, actually though this one has made me somewhat angrier.
There is an implication that they have only stopped purchasing milk from Grace Mugabe's Gushungo Dairy Estate because a lot of people like me and you got in touch to complain, not that they should have a conscience and shouldn't fund the evil dictator through a back door IE via his wife's dairy business.
Although as Caron and others will testify, Nestle don't have a conscience!
"Dear Mr Reeves,
Thank you for getting in touch.
The Dairy Board of Zimbabwe have now informed the Gushungo Dairy Estate, and the 7 other farms with whom Nestlé began working on a temporary basis in February 2009, that it is now in a position to resume purchasing their milk. Nestlé Zimbabwe therefore will no longer be receiving milk from these 8 farms from Sunday 4 October.
In February 2009 the food and economic crisis in Zimbabwe reached a level where the dairy industry was at real risk of collapse, and the Dairy Board was no longer able to buy milk from these 8 farms. In light of our long-term commitment to Zimbabwe, we bought this milk on a temporary basis. This helped prevent a further deterioration in food supplies in Zimbabwe at that time.
Nestlé has been in Zimbabwe for 50 years, working with the population of Zimbabwe and striving to maintain a long-term viable operation in often challenging conditions. We operate in Zimbabwe, as we do in every country, through good times and bad. We work for the long-term, in a way which has positive impact on our consumers, employees and suppliers.
In light of the recent controversy surrounding our relationship with the Gushungo Dairy Estate, we believe that this announcement reflects our long-term commitment to Zimbabwe while acknowledging the specific circumstances around these events.
Thank you again for taking the trouble to contact us. We are grateful for the interest you have shown in our company."
Showing posts with label Robert Mugabe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robert Mugabe. Show all posts
Monday, 5 October 2009
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Nestle defends and still supports Mugabe
On Friday I blogged about how buying a kitkat was funding Robert Mugabe and that according to Nestle they stopped purchasing milk from Grace Mugabe who now owns Gushungo Dairy Estate.
However, last Friday I emailed Nestle directly to ascertain the facts. Today I received a reply from a Consumer Relations Executive in the Consumer Services Department where at no point in the email does it say that Nestle have stopped purchasing milk from Grace Mugabe or Gushungo Dairy.
Here is the email in full;
"Dear Mr Reeves,
Thank you very much for your email.
Nestlé Zimbabwe owns and operates a factory in Harare, producing milk powder and cereals mainly for the local market. Nestlé is a fully-fledged member of the local community in Zimbabwe, employing around 200 people there and providing additional employment for many hundreds of milk farmers and other suppliers.
The continuous supply of consistently high quality fresh milk is crucial to Nestlé’s operations in Zimbabwe. During the last few years Nestlé has witnessed the collapse of Zimbabwe’s dairy industry. Nestlé prefers to work within contractual agreements to ensure a constant supply of fresh milk but, at the end of 2008, the company found itself operating in a market where eight of its sixteen contractual suppliers had gone out of business.
As a result, in early 2009, Nestlé was forced to purchase milk on the open market from a wide variety of suppliers on a non-contractual basis. This includes milk from the Gushungo Dairy Estate which today accounts for between 10 and 15 per cent of Nestlé's local milk supply.
Nestlé is a truly global company which operates in almost all countries in the world in a wide variety of political settings. Despite the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe, Nestlé has not considered moving its operations out of the country. By providing basic food products to Zimbabwean consumers, Nestlé aims to meet the needs of the local population, many of whom are vulnerable and disadvantaged. Had Nestlé decided to close down its operations in Zimbabwe, the company would have triggered further food shortages and hundreds of job losses among its employees and milk suppliers in an already very difficult situation.
Thank you again for taking the trouble to contact us. We are grateful for the interest you have shown in our company."
This email in my mind clarifies and underlines that Nestle are still purchasing milk from Grace Mugabe especially this line "This includes milk from the Gushungo Dairy Estate which today accounts for between 10 and 15 per cent of Nestlé's local milk supply."
Their justification for buying milk from an evil dictators wife is that if they didn't jobs would have been lost, but where is their statement on Corporate Social Responsibility and how does supporting Mugabe fit into that?
I decided to search for this, on the Nestle Zimbabwe site in the media centre, an almost duplicate of the email to me is displayed as the media statement but CSR is a large document, so I will be downloading this and reporting back soon.
Therefore every time you buy a kitkat, a tube of smarties or any of the hundreds of brands owned by Nestle you are clearly helping to fund Mugabe the Zimbabwe dictator, I for one could not have that on my conscience.
However, last Friday I emailed Nestle directly to ascertain the facts. Today I received a reply from a Consumer Relations Executive in the Consumer Services Department where at no point in the email does it say that Nestle have stopped purchasing milk from Grace Mugabe or Gushungo Dairy.
Here is the email in full;
"Dear Mr Reeves,
Thank you very much for your email.
Nestlé Zimbabwe owns and operates a factory in Harare, producing milk powder and cereals mainly for the local market. Nestlé is a fully-fledged member of the local community in Zimbabwe, employing around 200 people there and providing additional employment for many hundreds of milk farmers and other suppliers.
The continuous supply of consistently high quality fresh milk is crucial to Nestlé’s operations in Zimbabwe. During the last few years Nestlé has witnessed the collapse of Zimbabwe’s dairy industry. Nestlé prefers to work within contractual agreements to ensure a constant supply of fresh milk but, at the end of 2008, the company found itself operating in a market where eight of its sixteen contractual suppliers had gone out of business.
As a result, in early 2009, Nestlé was forced to purchase milk on the open market from a wide variety of suppliers on a non-contractual basis. This includes milk from the Gushungo Dairy Estate which today accounts for between 10 and 15 per cent of Nestlé's local milk supply.
Nestlé is a truly global company which operates in almost all countries in the world in a wide variety of political settings. Despite the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe, Nestlé has not considered moving its operations out of the country. By providing basic food products to Zimbabwean consumers, Nestlé aims to meet the needs of the local population, many of whom are vulnerable and disadvantaged. Had Nestlé decided to close down its operations in Zimbabwe, the company would have triggered further food shortages and hundreds of job losses among its employees and milk suppliers in an already very difficult situation.
Thank you again for taking the trouble to contact us. We are grateful for the interest you have shown in our company."
This email in my mind clarifies and underlines that Nestle are still purchasing milk from Grace Mugabe especially this line "This includes milk from the Gushungo Dairy Estate which today accounts for between 10 and 15 per cent of Nestlé's local milk supply."
Their justification for buying milk from an evil dictators wife is that if they didn't jobs would have been lost, but where is their statement on Corporate Social Responsibility and how does supporting Mugabe fit into that?
I decided to search for this, on the Nestle Zimbabwe site in the media centre, an almost duplicate of the email to me is displayed as the media statement but CSR is a large document, so I will be downloading this and reporting back soon.
Therefore every time you buy a kitkat, a tube of smarties or any of the hundreds of brands owned by Nestle you are clearly helping to fund Mugabe the Zimbabwe dictator, I for one could not have that on my conscience.
Friday, 2 October 2009
Buy a KitKat and pay Mugabe
According to today's Metro, Nestle, who my friend and colleague Caron blogs about occasionally (about boycotting them regarding baby milk), has admitted it bought milk from Gushungo Dairy Estate, owned by Grace Mugabe, the wife of Robert Mugabe the evil dictator who controls Zimbabwe.
Apparently Grace Mugabe obtained Gushungo Dairy Estate during the 2002 controversial land seizure programme.
So when you feel the urge for a KitKat, just think about it first. The 55p you hand over to the shopkeeper, goes in the till but how much actually then goes to Grace Mugabe who is no doubt funding Robert Mugabe's election campaign.
If you want to boycott Nestle then you probably need to know which brands to boycott, it isn't as easy as not buying KitKats, smarties or the odd jar of coffee so visit their site for more information.
Although Nestle claim they stopped purchasing the milk from that farm as from last Sunday, how much produce is already in the food chain.
That's a political donation you really don't want on your conscience.
Apparently Grace Mugabe obtained Gushungo Dairy Estate during the 2002 controversial land seizure programme.
So when you feel the urge for a KitKat, just think about it first. The 55p you hand over to the shopkeeper, goes in the till but how much actually then goes to Grace Mugabe who is no doubt funding Robert Mugabe's election campaign.
If you want to boycott Nestle then you probably need to know which brands to boycott, it isn't as easy as not buying KitKats, smarties or the odd jar of coffee so visit their site for more information.
Although Nestle claim they stopped purchasing the milk from that farm as from last Sunday, how much produce is already in the food chain.
That's a political donation you really don't want on your conscience.
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