Ex-KIFCO workers not paid benefits despite assets sale

FORMER workers at the liquidated Kabwe Industrial Fabrics Company (KIFCO) have not been paid their benefits despite the receiver having sold all the assets to Meanwood at allegedly undervalued prices.

KIFCO, the polythene manufacturing company and largest employer in Central Province had gone under liquidation in 2017 after failing to clear K17.4 million owed to the Development Bank of Zambia (DBZ).

The company struggled to survive for years with employees going for more than three years without pay while management failed to meet legal obligations.

Central Province Minister Credo Nanjuwa said the former workers including the general manager have not been paid their dues although most of the assets have been sold.

Mr. Nanjuwa said in an interview that the provincial administration has engaged the Ministry of Finance to find ways of how the workers could be paid their benefits because there were no assets left that could be turned into liquid to pay the workers.

“The receiver managed to dispose of assets to recover the money for DBZ and the assets were bought by Meanwood, so the assets are gone, there is no more assets that can be turned into liquid to pay the former workers,” he said.

Mr. Nanjuwa disclosed that the former general manager whose name he withheld was facing eviction from the company house he has been occupying which was now the property of Meanwood despite not being paid his benefits.

He said the provincial administration has engaged the receiver to see how Meanwood could rescind its decision to evict the former general manager.

KIFCO obtained a K17, 417, 193 loan in 2011 from the DBZ and 50 percent of the credit was later restructured to support the turnaround efforts in 2014 after the company failed to clear the debt.