BULAWAYO chain supermarket Tashas needs $200 000 to recapitalise after it was placed under judiciary management last year.
Report by Gamma Mudarikiri
Tashas was placed under judiciary management after the company failed to finance debts close to $3 million owed to different local banks and suppliers.
The judiciary manager Michael Batandi of Mimosa Income Tax Consultancy Services told NewsDay that Tashas was working on raising $200 000 to fully recapitalise by end of year.
“We have managed to raise almost half the money towards recapitalisation and if all goes according to plan, we are anticipating even clearing the debt by next year,” Batandi said.
BancABC is exposed to the supermarket to $300 000 while Ecobank is owed $500 000. Other banks owed by the supermarket include CABS and NMB.
Banks had initiated moves to attach properties from the cash-strapped supermarket chains.
Tashas was one of the first to import basic commodities from South Africa during the hyper-inflation period.
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Batandi said as part of the restructuring exercise to recapitalise the chain supermarket, operations had been streamlined and branches reduced from the initial 10 to four.
He said some of the staff had been retrenched but he could not disclose the actual figure.
“We reduced staff and top management and also involved the company directors fully in the day-to-day operations of the company”, Batandi added.
The struggling supermarket chain in June last year closed four of its branches — Mzilikazi, Entumbane, Old Magwegwe and 10th Avenue — citing viability challenges attributed to the liquidity crunch and increasing competition in the retail sector.
Another outlet at Emganwini has since been closed as part of restructuring and the remaining branches include those in Pelandaba, Pumula, Lobengula, Fife Street and Herbert Chitepo Street in the city centre.
Tashas had 10 outlets in the city and rose to prominence at the height of economic challenges when established supermarkets failed to stock basic commodities.
