Were Mnangagwa and Mthuli Ncube taken for a ride by Boustead Beef?

Asked whether the company had the capacity to turn around the CSC since nothing substantial had happened so far, Shoko said that it was a fallacy that nothing had happened because Wet Blue Industries, a subsidiary of the CSC, was fully functional.

He also said the company had the capacity. He said Havercroft was only the face of the investors. The real investors had visited the factory in Bulawayo in January and they have the money.

Workers said they were not aware of this visit.

Shoko said turning around the CSC was very difficult because there was too much politics. Even some of the employees were too political.

The workers said the company was also playing politics as it was threatening workers that they had nowhere to turn to because everything that the company was doing, including the retrenchment of the workers, had been sanctioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa himself.

Mnangagwa’s spokesman, George Charamba, has not yet responded to whether the President is personally involved or not though he was asked about this more than a month ago.

The Insider also wanted to know why the government was so secretive about the agreement, and the real investors, if it was true that Havercroft was not the real investor, since the CSC was owned by taxpayers.

While the government remains silent on what is really happening at the CSC, the workers are on the receiving end.  They have now gone for four months without a salary, they say.

To make matters worse, the workers, some of whom have been with the company for over 30 years, are going to be retrenched at the end of next month with an average package of $20 000 (US$800 at the unrealistic official exchange rate, but US$285 at the market rate).

ED:The Insider has questioned the deal from the beginning. Below is the full dossier.

Something fishy seems to be going on at Zimbabwe’s Cold Storage Company

Can Havercroft really revive Zimbabwe’s largest meat processor?

Zimbabwe duped by “UK investor”-workers say

Zimbabwe’s largest meat processor shutting down for 4 months-Workers threaten to camp at factory until grievances are addressed

Cold Storage Company managers threaten to take Boustead Beef Zimbabwe to Labour Court

Mnangagwa and his entire cabinet should be taken to task over CSC deal

What a travesty – Zimbabwe’s CSC to retrench workers, package less than US$300 after 43 years’ service

How can Mnangagwa allow this?

Zimbabwe Cold Storage Company workers vow to put on a good fight over retrenchment

https://www.insiderzim.com/zimbabwe-cold-storage-company-workers-vow-to-put-on-a-good-fight-over-retrenchment/

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