SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
It’s been reported that mine workers at the Hwange Colliery are on strike, having not been paid for the past 5 months. The Daily News reported that the company’s managing director, Jemister Chininga, confirmed the strike saying: “Yes we are experiencing demonstration problems at the site.” The workers said they had been going into work for the past 5 months, despite not being paid. One employee said the colliery was refusing to pay them their outstanding salaries and threatening to dismiss anyone taking part in the strike. The Hwange Colliery company has a Chinese business partner, the Hwange Coal Gasification Company, who reportedly owns 75% of the shares. The company has been functioning poorly for many years due to bad management and allegations of corruption. Earlier this year they engaged forensic auditors to investigate their debts of $30 million. The auditors were brought in due to fears that ‘the money may have been misused.’ In November 2012 they had to reinstate 200 retrenched workers after they couldn’t find the $6.4 million needed for the retrenchment packages.