OVER 300 Ziscosteel employees have been taken to court by a Redcliff school for failing to pay for their children’s fees and some have already lost their property.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
According to court records, parents owed amounts ranging from $200 to $500, which accumulated from last year.
One of the affected parents, Philip Matika, a health and safety officer at Ziscosteel, said his property worth over $1 000 was recently auctioned over a $373 fees debt and fetched a paltry $150.
Matika told NewsDay that he was left devastated after the property which he acquired over the past 14 years was sold for a pittance.
“After they sold my property, the school did not even get a dollar because most of the money went to cover legal fees and attachment costs by the Deputy Sherrif, so I had to provide labour to offset the debt,” Matika said.
Matika’s $373 debt had ballooned to $728 after legal and removal costs were factored in.
Ziscosteel workers have for the past five years been pinning their hopes on the reopening of the dormant steel giant by new investors Essar Africa Holdings following the injection of $750 million as working capital.
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However, political interference has delayed the reopening of the company. Workers said the Ziscosteel management appeared unmoved by their problems.
“We are facing eviction from our homes by council and most of the workers here have had their property auctioned over failure to pay fees while management is reluctant to find solutions to alleviate the suffering of its workers,” said workers’ committee chairperson Cheneso Jack.
Jack said the company owed workers’ salaries and wages of nearly four years.
