via Zimbabwe government stops David Whitehead liquidation February 10, 2014 By Tarisai Mandizha NewsDay
GOVERNMENT has introduced a motion to stop the liquidation of troubled lint-processor, David Whitehead Textiles, saying the move would have adverse effects on workers, goods and services in the country, a senior government official has said.
Industry and Commerce deputy minister Chiratidzo Mabuwa told Parliament recently that government was mulling moves to stop the proposed liquidation of David Whitehead Textiles.
This was after the company’s recently appointed judicial manager recommended liquidation of the textile firm which is owned 52% by Aldgate Investment.
“In this case, we are encouraging the company to look for investors and so far we have investors who are showing interest in the company,” Mabuwa said.
“I should mention that we are discouraging the liquidation and we prefer to a takeover by new investors and this is the dialogue that is currently taking place.”
She said if the company went into liquidation, employees currently occupying company houses would face eviction as these properties would have to be sold as part of the liquidation process.
“The issue is that there is a 52% stakeholder, who is steering the option of liquidation and what we are negotiating with the 52% stakeholder, who is a company and not an individual, is that let us not opt for liquidation, but for takeover,” she said.
She added that assets sold during liquidation do not normally fetch market value, moreso when the property market is depressed, like the current status quo.
David Whitehead Textiles, which used to be the largest textile firm in the country and the largest employer in the textile industry, with operations in Chegutu (the weaving plant), Kadoma (the spinning plant) and Gweru, was for the second time placed under judicial management in December 2010, having gone through reconstruction between 2005 and 2008.
At its prime, the clothing and textile industry in Zimbabwe used to employ 24 000 people and the number has since declined to 4 000.
COMMENTS
So where do they get the cotton. Chegutu used to be a thriving town. Whiteheads was booming. Has anyone been thru Chegutu lately? What a dump. Filthy, the roads full of potholes. And as for those disgusting aircraft….. What happened to the top quality oranges we could buy there? Fab meat products. Cheeses from Kadoma. Green mealies in season. Didn’t it once have the top cotton and cotton seed? Tragic.
And seedlings of everything green.Then Bright Matonga (remember him?) came,with his British wife.
This company has been killed. Nothing can save it. Now they want to burden the tax payer with it.
So those who want 51% stake why cant they buy and resuscitate such closing companies. They just want thriving companies to reap what they did not sow. Vanhu verudzi rwangu?
get Cashburg to buy the 52%
Can someone telll us who owns Aldage investments.
Then isu tingaona zvekuita. Haikona kuzozviokanda mu naana Chiyangwa, chombo ,Gonorrhoea, Russell mwana wezuro rino asingatyi Mwari neropa ravanhu, temba mliswa etc ukakuvara nekubirwa.
We love the company and we can do something. But who are they that hold 52%?
Aldgate is one of those Zpf companies who thought they will reap where they have not soured. Remember G&D Shoes, Crittal Hope etc that were bought by former Lance Corp Phillip! He retrenched the workers, sold the equipment and finally the stands. That will be the same story for the once great David Whitehead. Shame, shame, shame.
Worried about your cousin living freely in David Whitehead properties! As them to relocate to gokwe and plant more cotton, i mean high quality too. Where is you indigenisation now? Call it David Blackhead, and give Chiyangwa naBona 51 percent
Ini ndave kukweretesa mazimari varume, ndinoda kuti mutema apfume. Ngwendo guno ngezvedu. Kana paine vanoda mari yekutira over these companies going into liquidation, heunoyi mukana. My number is 263 77 345 3587. Vamwe vanopfuma makaringa. Mari kumutema atore over ma company asisina value aya. Remember mugabe asara nema conference mangani ngani eku attenda asati aenda paNational Shrine. Industry will boom again
yeh, look what happened to Cairns in Mutare, no reliable product from the farmers…
I suppose they want to hand it to the Chinese like they did Zimasco. Murimi wanhasi please comment…its always a pleasure reading your misguided contribution.
There is nothing worth salvaging there. Which
sane investor would want to buy their old antiquated equipment from the 60s and 70s. textile technology has evolved since then, one needs more modern equipment to be able to produce competitively. An investor would prefer to start a new enterprise with new equipment than inherit that old shell company with all its problems include unpaid labour, creditors. We need to accept as a nation that some of these so called companies are beyond redemption, let them die a natural death and focus on creating new enterprises that work.
Depressing reading. What happened?!?! Cheap clothing and cloth imports have destroyed our textile sector. Think of all those jobs that are now gone. Tsk tsk. Very sad.
Textiles woven in the country of origin, from yarn spun in the same country, from fibre grown or produced in the same country has most favoured nation access to the European Union. There was a huge demand for David Whitehead Textiles there because of the quality – better than the very best from Egypt. Then the Zimbabwe Official that certified the origin of shipments was put in Chikurubi, his successor was found to be certifying shipments of far east textiles as of Zimbabwe origin – end of story/market.