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NewsDay

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No pay for workers since dollarisation

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Ninety-seven employees from G&D Shoes in Bulawayo are claiming they have not been paid a cent since the dollarisation of the economy in March 2009. The company was eventually closed in February this year and placed under liquidation early this month. The company is owned by former Attorney General, Sobusa Gula-Ndebele. Representatives of the affected […]

Ninety-seven employees from G&D Shoes in Bulawayo are claiming they have not been paid a cent since the dollarisation of the economy in March 2009.

The company was eventually closed in February this year and placed under liquidation early this month.

The company is owned by former Attorney General, Sobusa Gula-Ndebele.

Representatives of the affected workers told NewsDay recently their situation was dire and their families were struggling to make ends meet. “We have not been paid our salaries since March 2009 and our families are falling apart due to that,” said one of the affected employees, Marko Tevedzai.

“Now we are reading in the papers that the company is being liquidated and yet there was no communication to us, the employees.”

Tevedzai said the company was shut down in February this year after it was placed under liquidation.

The liquidator, Phillip Ndlovu, has confirmed the development.

“I can confirm that the company has been closed. However, I do not know if the company is going to reopen or not because I am only the liquidator and I am going to carry out the job I am supposed to do,” he said.

“I therefore cannot comment on the re-engagement of the employees as I am not their employer.”

Contacted for comment on Tuesday, the owner of the company, Gula-Ndebele, declined to comment on non-payment of workers’ salaries.

“All I can say is that I am aware that G&D is under liquidation. However, I cannot comment on the issue of workers’ salaries,” he said.

“It is best that you speak to the company liquidator, as he has all the information about the company.” Ndlovu declined to comment.

“I cannot confirm that for you,” he said, Ndlovu added that once a company was under liquidation, it would be closed down, ready to be sold.

Said one employee: “On 3 February we arrived at work, only to find the gates closed and there was a new security company guarding the premises, therefore we had no one to ask what was going on,” he said.

“We tried to get the management to give us an explanation. However, to date we have only been told that the company closed down as it was failing to pay its rent.”

The workers’ union was suspended at the beginning of the year after it clashed with management over the issue of non-payment of salaries.