admin
as they have not been paid their salaries for the past two years.
The timber logging company, which is owned by Water Resources Development and Management Minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, has been struggling since the Minister took over.
The development has angered the workers, a majority of them from Sipepa area where Minister Nkomo comes from.
In separate interviews in Tsholotsho on Tuesday, the workers, who preferred anonymity for fear of victimisation, accused Minister Nkomo of destroying the company and deserting them.
“There were about 65 workers here when Minister Nkomo took over but now we are about 40. Most people have left the company because there is no hope anymore. We are in a desperate situation and we do not know what is happening. Our employer has deserted us,” said one of the female workers.
The workers said they were supposed to earn a basic salary of $210 per month but their employer gave them $50 once in a while.
Said another worker: “It is like we are slaves here. We do not believe the lie that the company is not making money because production was going on very well. Right now we have stopped working as you can see that there is no activity. We cannot continue working for nothing.”
The workers said they were failing to fend for their families and have resorted to selling their property in order to buy food.
Some said their children have been expelled from school after they failed to pay school fees.
When Chronicle visited the company premises about 72km from Tsholotsho Business Centre on Tuesday afternoon, a gloomy atmosphere hung over the place.
The workers rushed to meet the news crew and pleaded for intervention from the Government. “Please help us bantwana. We are in a hopeless situation and no one seems to care. It is a shock that Minister Nkomo, who comes from this place, has betrayed us. He often visits his home here but does not come to see us. He is so heartless,” said another worker.
“He has failed to run the company since he took over and now there are rumours he wants to sell it without consulting us. Each worker is owed more than $2 000. After all we did not have protective clothing.”
The workers said Government should help them take over the company or sell it to someone who can run it properly.
“It is better to give the company to someone who would treat us as human beings. What is happening now is robbery. Some of us come from as far as Nkayi, Kezi, Lupane and Binga and are not even able to go to our homes,” said another worker.
One of the company supervisors, Mr Joshua Gona, declined to comment.
“You have heard it from the workers. I am not allowed to speak to the Press and I cannot give a comment. Only senior people are allowed to do so,” said Mr Gona.
Mukusi Sawmills is a subsidiary of Mukusi Products which manufactures and sells timber products.
The company was put under judicial management after Minister Nkomo took over in August last year.
In a different case, the villagers alleged that Minister Nkomo wanted to use his influence to campaign for his wife.
The villagers said the Minister’s wife was eyeing the Tsholotsho North parliamentary seat, which at the moment is held by Professor Jonathan Moyo of Zanu-PF.
The villagers said Minister Nkomo was using Unicef funded water projects to gain support in the area.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Minister Nkomo brushed aside the accusation and declined to comment, referring all questions to the company’s judicial manager, Mr Philip Ndlovu.
“I do not know anything about that and cannot comment about Mukusi. You can talk to the judicial manager, Mr Philip Ndlovu. None of the directors can comment on that except him,” said Minister Nkomo.
Mr Ndlovu could not be reached for comment on his mobile phone while his office line was continuously engaged.
Online Reporter