adminWalter Nyamukondiwa: Chinhoyi Bureau
Workers at David Whitehead Textiles, which is under judicial management, last Friday staged a peaceful demonstration in Chegutu against judicial manager Mr Knowledge Hofisi and his management team. The workers accused the team of neglecting them as they have gone for months without being paid while infrastructure was now in an advanced state of disrepair.It is now feared that machinery that has sustained the company for years will be damaged by the impending rains as asbestos have caved in, exposing it to weather elements. Similar demonstrations have been held in Gweru and Kadoma with workers calling for the dismissal of the judicial manager for failing to turnaround the fortunes of the company.
“We have endured years of lies since the judicial manager took over in 2013 promising to turnaround the company in a short space of time. The situation has gone from bad to worse unfortunately,” said an irate worker.
The workers have called on Government to intervene saying facts on the actual state of the company have been misrepresented on numerous occasions.
Workers at the once thriving textile giant, are now owed in excess of $20 million and now call on the judicial manager to convene a creditors meeting to map the way forward on what they were owed. Among a plethora of grievances, workers allege obscure disposal of company assets including houses in Kadoma, Gweru and Chegutu.
“We are demonstrating as a way of pressing the judicial manager (Mr Hofisi) to call for a creditors meeting where we will know the fate of the company and those it owes including us workers who are owed around $20 million in salary arrears,” said workers representative chairperson Mr Sumbe Rabeka.
They also alleged that rolls of cloth weaved some months ago were being taken out to unknown destinations and it was unknown how the proceeds were used. The company is now valued at around $15 million with some stakeholders saying judicial management has failed to turnaround the fortunes of the company.
The workers fear that at this rate, the value of the company will continue to diminish.
DWT has been under two judicial managers before the current manager but the outcomes have remained largely sterile.
Workers argue that the manager should convene a meeting with stakeholders in terms of Section 306(g) and (h) of the Company Act.
They say on the occasion they were given an opportunity to meet with the judicial manager Mr Hofisi, he was only prepared to meet them for 20 minutes saying he had other urgent business to attend to.
Given the scenario of heavy indebtedness, the only viable option, stakeholders contend, is to turn the credit into equity by allowing the workers to be majority shareholders.
“The company is worth $15m and the debt is $20m and under the circumstances, the only sensible thing is to turn the credit into equity,” said Chegutu West Member of Parliament Cde Dexter Nduna.
“This means that the workers who are the majority creditors owed $15m in terms of salaries owed should be the major shareholders at David Whitehead Textiles and take over the company.”
As part of cost cutting measures, the company retrenched about 400 workers but that has not managed to change its fortunes.
The workers recently petitioned Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko to act decisively on the situation at David Whitehead which at its peak employed around 1600 workers.
This has since gone down to around 500 workers.
Things seemed to have taken off the ground when the company was awarded a contract to supply the Zimbabwe National Army and the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services but the bubble seems to have burst.
Mr Hosifi could not be reached for a comment.
Online Reporter