DW creditors’ meeting to await High Court ruling

Business Reporter
A DAVID Whitehead creditors’ meeting scheduled for this morning is likely to be postponed again to allow the High Court to pass the judgment in which the major shareholder had sought dismissal of the judicial manager, Mr Winsely Militala.
Elgate, which owns 51 percent of the textile group, applied to the court to seek Mr Militala’s ouster on the grounds that his US$12 million security bond had been withdrawn.
The High Court was expected to make the ruling by midday today.
The creditors first met on February 2, but the meeting was postponed when it emerged that some shareholders and creditors had not received a report on DW affairs from Mr Militala.
In an interview yesterday, Master of the High Court Mr Charles Nyatanga said the shareholders and creditors would meet to formally reschedule the meeting.
“We adjourned the meeting on the first day to February 23 (2011) but there is now a court application by Elgate who are seeking the removal of the judicial manager,” he said.
“So the meeting will take place but only to make a formal postponement because we have to wait for the High Court judgment.”
David Whitehead was first put under the judicial management of Mr Cecil Madondo in May 2005 before the management order was cancelled in May 2008.
The company, which delisted from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange early last year, has of late been struggling due to an unsustainable wage bill, continuous breakdown of machinery and endless labour disputes among other challenges.
David Whitehead was once the largest textile manufacturing company in Zimbabwe, employing not less than 3 000 people but has become a pale shadow of its former self.
Between 1950 and 2000, DW expanded rapidly to become the largest textile company in the country. It was internationally renowned for its quality and gained a fine reputation both locally and in export markets.
Before 2002, e company was part of Lonrho plc, a large conglomerate manufacturing and trading throughout Africa.