Bata Shoe company feels Covid-19 impact

GWERU-BASED shoe manufacturer Bata Shoe Company has said that its ability to maintain a huge workforce is being crippled by the devastating impact of Covid -19, which puts job security on the line.

Bata is one of the Midlands companies that opened at the start of Level 2 lockdown with skeleton staff in line with Covid-19 rules and regulations. The giant company has a staff of over 1 500 but is currently having 150 workers on duty so as to maintain social distance to mitigate against the spread of the virus

Bata Zimbabwe managing director, Mr Simon Mutisya, said they were considering trimming staff, a decision that will depend on how hard the knock from the pandemic will be on operations. He said the company resumed operations under the on-going lockdown period with about 15 percent of its full workforce.

In an interview on the sidelines of the handover of personal protective equipment to Midlands Provincial Covid-19 taskforce, Mr Mutisya said the company’s raw material supply from South Africa has been affected.

“We need to protect the human resource as much as possible because Covid-19 is threatening people. But this Covid-19 has affected the business side worse. The lock lockdown has resulted in us not producing as much as we should do,” he said.

“Because of Covid-19 we might be forced to retrench our human resources because we are operating far below expectations.”

Mr Mutisya said after they were allowed to operate, they resumed with the gumboots production so that they also play a part in the production of personal protective equipment to protect people against the spread of Covid-19.

“We got authorisation to work with limited employees and we have 150. The main line is the gumboots section to fight Covid-19.

“The Covid-19 has come and is affecting the human beings but we need to protect workforce. We have also started making face masks,” said Mr Mutisya.

He said production has also been affected by lack of raw materials.

“Supply of raw materials from South Africa has been affected by the lockdown and it is affecting production,” said Mr Mutisya.

The shoe company donated over 200 gumboots and facemasks to the Midlands Provincial Taskforce to be used by frontline workers in fighting Covid-19.

Meanwhile, some hair salons, clothing, hardware, electrical and cellphone shops have re-opened in the high and low density suburbs in Gweru.

In the Central Business District only banks, major supermarkets were open. Police continued to mount roadblocks on all major roads leading into the city.

Shop owners have said that although they had opened their doors, they had skeleton staff.