Zimbabwe duped by “UK investor”-workers say

6. Proof of Financial Capacity – A Battery of Lies

Boustead Beef has to prove to the Government of Zimbabwe that it has the financial capacity to resuscitate CSC. Nicholas Havercroft has been literally lying to the government and nation at large, some of the lies include;

• USD 130m investment
• USD 400m investment
• A solar project from Econet valued USD16m
• A new solar farm for $9m – At the moment he is under panic after your firm stance on the NRZ deal and Nicholas Havercroft, clever as he is, will run to mount a panel or two and run to the press to say the massive solar investments has begun. But hold on did he come for power generation or livestock and abattoir operation and export?
• 200 vehicles docked and stuck at Dares Salam port for months because of sanctions.
• USD400m stuck in Germany because of sanctions.
• Masvingo abatttoir to be operational by October 2019.
• Resuscitating one diesel powered borehole in Umguza never mind solar powered borehole as he reported and alleges that $2million has been sunk in.
• Bringing in foreign suppliers one after the other to assess the plant and factories to make quotations for equipment but introduce them as “investors”.
• That he had imported 2,000 herd of cattel yet they belong to a CSC tenant at Dubane farm in Kezi.
• The much publicized issue that workers are now getting full salaries without a Cost of Living Adjustment is an insult. The part salaries that employees were getting before Boustead Beef were of much more value than the full salaries being paid thanks to an increase in property rental. Salaries for CSC were last adjusted in 2010. The previous forensic audit done stand as proof.

Nicholas Havercroft will create a separate enterprise without any value addition to CSC or the nation. Nicholas Havercroft has told employees that what he took over from CSC are properties not operations and workers. This is a simple speculative strategy where you buy low priced assets and sell them high at a later stage. For this deal he will not be able to invest what he promised government nor dispose the assets at zero cost to him. It is our view that Boustead Beef is only after farms and properties for rentals generation not production or resuscitation of the abattoirs. They have already indicated that such are a burden they are not prepared to carry. It is also clear that they are not there for business or employment creation or employee welfare. He is in the process of laying off all workers so as to leave his small team (5 white men and 1 black woman) to collect rental and manage real estate. Closure of the abattoirs is evidence.

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