GWANDA — A storm has erupted between management and 58 workers at Freda Gold Mine in Gwanda after the company allegedly sent the employees on unpaid leave on Monday.
REPORT BY SILAS NKALA STAFF REPORTER
The workers have since protested the decision and were by yesterday gathered at the company’s main gate demanding audience with the managing director Innocent Gona.
Workers’ committee chairperson Prosper Makaza confirmed the standoff, adding the company had cited no reasons for sending them on forced leave.
He said they suspected the decision was not related to production levels because the mine was highly productive .
“We are stranded at the mine gate waiting to be addressed by management, but no one cares,” Makaza said.
“The affected departments were engineering, plant, underground and geology.”
Makaza said Gona just sent an order advising the mine’s top management to put 58 workers on unpaid leave including members of the workers’ committee.
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Contacted for comment, Gona yesterday insisted everything was done above board.
“I am going there myself. All the procedures were done. I do not want to talk over this now,” he said.
Workers’ committee executive member David Sibanda said the future of the affected workers now looked bleak considering that the festive season was beckoning.
National Union for Quarry Workers of Zimbabwe organiser Onious Munenga threatened to refer the matter to the National Employment Council for the mining sector for adjudication.
“The company has done the most unfair thing,” Munenga said. “We have a problem with the employer who does not want to pay workers. When a black person took over, we hoped he would treat workers well but it appears he is worse than whites who used to run the mine.”
