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Herald Reporter

Chinese-owned company Sunny Yi Feng Tiles Zimbabwe yesterday said it remained committed to conducting its business within the parameters of the Zimbabwean labour laws and shot down claims of ill-treating its workers after a picture of an injured worker went viral on social media.

The firm also dismissed other social media pictures purporting to be food offered in the canteen as fake, saying the meals portrayed  were not on the company menu.

Addressing a media briefing at its plant in Norton, the firm’s assistant director, Mr Terrify Taruvinga, said the company, which boasts of a workforce of 1 700, is dedicated to providing quality goods and services to its  stakeholders, and this includes treating the workforce with compassionate and giving them proper training.

“We have had a beneficial skills transfer programme that has trained a large number of unskilled personnel into semi-skilled employees.

“With guidance of the National Employment Council and our workers committee, we will continuously improve our employer-employee relations,” he said.

Mr Taruvinga said it was regrettable that a picture of the injured employee has been circulated on social media to tarnish their reputation.

“We regret the action of that isolated incident and we have since rectified that. Emergency response and safety of our employees has been put in place as well as first aid kits and wheel chairs in case of emergency,” he said.

Mr Taruvinga also shot down allegations that the firm was not protecting employees, noting that a picture of a single employee could not be representative of the situation at the company.

“The fact is that our company has provided protective equipment such as work suits, masks, protective gloves for all different purposes and types of work. We have also done tests for all our food handlers and workers in hazardous areas,” he said.

Mr Taruvinga further dismissed a picture purporting that the food and eating environment was poor as a way of tarnishing the company’s image. 

“The authenticity of the picture is very controversial and is aimed at painting a bad image of our company. The dishes in the picture do not match the menu provided by our staff canteen. 

“Employees on duty are entitled to free meals. 

“Our company has a three-shift system with nearly 300 employees on each shift. Quality and healthy food is provided to the workers,” he said.

Mr Taruvinga said since the establishment of the company they have been involved in many corporate social responsibility activities.

“We have made road rehabilitations in all areas we do our operations in and we have also made donations in our immediate communities. We offered soccer kits to Kawanzaruwa school in Sanyati; we donated Covid-19 PPE to our local hospital,” he said.

Mr Taruvinga said the firm had created 1 700 jobs for the youths in and around all parts of Zimbabwe since the establishment of the company in 2018 and 70 percent of their production is being exported.