BULAWAYO - One of the country's sugar refineries, Gold Star Sugar, remains shut since December when it closed doors for the annual shut down.The company has since January extended its re-opening due a gripping shortage of raw material, working capital and disruptive power cuts that continue to grip the county’s industry. As a result of the closure of the company, the local market has been flooded by brown sugar, mainly from South Africa, to plug the gap. In an update to the media, Starafrica Corporation chief operating officer, Tendai Masawi, said the Bulawayo factory would only resume production when sufficient raw materials had been procured.
“Operations at our factory in Bulawayo have been temporarily suspended. We will only resume when we get the raw materials,” he said. In an interview with The Zimbabwean a number of skeletal staff at the company said their salaries had since been reduced and were not sure when
the company was most likely going to resume its full scale operations. “We understand that production might be resuming in next month but we can
only wait until that happens as so many promises have been made and yet the company remains shut,” said a worker on condition of anonymity.
He said initial was scheduled to open in March following its failure to open in January but incessant power cuts were cited as the reason why the company could not open at the time.
The worker said some of his former colleagues had already sought alternative employment as they had been kept out of work for a long time.
Shareholders of Starafrica Corporation early in the year gave the nod to the raising US$10 million through a rights offer for the purposes of refurbishing and recapitalizing its refineries.
Post published in: Economy