Bar deal torches storm

infrastructure degenerated into white elephants.
He said projections were that the utility will collect US$500 000 annually through rentals.

At the moment, Rufaro Marketing is operating at a loss.
Part of the rentals from TN Holdings have been used to pay salaries for the outstanding three-month period for the 500 workers.
Mr Tataranyika said the decision to lease out the beerhalls was reached following a string of losses that made it impossible for the firm to pay creditors and the workers.

He said a lot had changed since Rufaro Marketing was established in 1938.
When the beer outlets were established, the idea was to keep blacks busy drinking opaque beer to distract them from national politics.
“We have decided to turn the business into a real estate business. We are going to let out 25 outlets to TN Holdings. We want to leverage on real estate,” he said.

Mr Mataranyika said outlets that remained trading will pay rentals to the real estate arm of the utility.
He said most of the utility’s 500 employees will be laid off and paid off from the annual rentals. The Rufaro Marketing chairman said the demonstration did not disturb him because the workers were simply afraid of change.

He said it was expected that after 20 years of selling beer, some of the workers knew no other industry.
He said some of the employees will be retained to maintain the premises, while others will be allowed to lease some of the smaller outlets.
Reports say employees were allocated eight outlets to operate.

Rufaro Marketing workers union’s chairman Mr George Gwaze said they were not happy with Mr Mataranyika’s management style.
“We have not had our salaries for three months. There is no production at Rufaro Marketing as the company is heavily indebted to its suppliers,” he said.
He said the company owes Delta US$1,3 million and cannot get any supplies until the debt is settled.
The company has since fired its chief executive officer Mr Tendai Chigumadzi.

The employees alleged the beerhalls had been sold to TN, which is going to establish banking halls in the communities and furniture shops.
The employees said they were not conversant with bank and were therefore justified in their worries.
While Mr Gwaze alleged that the company wanted to retire them with packages, Mr Mataranyika said employees that would be retrenched would be paid in full.

“What does it pay to have workers coming to work and making no profits when we lay them off and make more than double profits? We are going through a painful stage and we have to take the pain. Whoever is going to use the premises will obviously employ people,”‘ he said.
Mr Mataranyika said the leasing out of the beerhalls was going to improve lives of many people as more employment would be created.

“Instead of having beerhalls, people are going to get banking halls, furniture and computer rooms. Instead of demonstrating the workers should instead be applying for jobs at TN,” he said.
“We cannot take everyone on board and some of them are going to be retrenched. We want to restructure the company to reduce costs and run the business properly. I am prepared to go through the pain until Rufaro Marketing is run properly,” he said.

He denied allegations that some councillors had taken over the management of some of the beerhalls.
In a statement yesterday, Rufaro Marketing claimed that only 30 workers out of 500 demonstrated against the realignment of the company.
“For the benefit of the media and the public, we wish to put it on record that the challenges at Rufaro Marketing are now a matter of public record: The business is undercapitalised. Resultantly, it often experiences working capital constraints. In addition, in its current form the business model is now out of step with the realities on the ground,” reads part of the statement.
“To get the business back into the black, management has come up with a comprehensive turnaround strategy whose underlining objective is to remodel Rufaro Marketing into a lean, mean and efficient structure.”

The company intends to exit from non-performing liquor outlets and retain profitable ones by pursuing Public Private Sector Partnership in line with the Government’s objectives.
The strategy, the company claims, has received the nod from the board.

“The board has also sought relevant approvals from our shareholder. We are happy that the shareholder has since approved the turnaround plan, which is now in full swing in terms of its implementation. It is therefore unfortunate and quite mischievous that instead of rallying behind the board and management as they move to implement this plan, a group of workers has decided to abandon their workstations to demonstrate against the revival of Rufaro Marketing.”

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