Chinese Diamond Giant Takes Back Over 700 Fired Zimbabwean Workers
Gibbs Dube
Anjin Investments (Pvt) Limited of China has re-hired at least half of the 1,500 workers it dismissed two weeks ago for engaging in a strike that paralyzed the company’s operations in Marange diamond fields, Manicaland Province.
Trust Bhebhe, a member of the workers’ committee who has not yet been re-instated, told Studio 7 that the company re-hired about 700 employees after conducting a screening exercise.
Bhebhe said the sacked workers are expected Wednesday to approach the Ministry of Labor in Mutare to file a case of unfair dismissal.
Several employees claimed that four managers sodomized them and apologized to the workers' committeee before some of them were fired
The workers went on strike demanding that the least paid employee should be paid $650 instead of the $235 they were getting a month.
The High Court ruled recently that the job action was illegal.
Bhebhe said the future looks bleak for the dismissed workers. “Some of the workers have become destitute as they have no source of income.”
Several employees also claimed that four managers were sodomizing them though the police have not taken any action on the matter.
The managers reportedly apologized to the workers’ committee before the employees were told to go home following the crippling strike.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti has been accusing Anjin, with strong links to Zimbabwe’s military, of failing to account for Marange diamond proceeds.
The company has repeatedly claimed that it has remitted $30 million in diamond taxes to the government since last September.
