Bulawayo — Ramotswa Steel, a Botswana based Ziscosteel subsidiary that was at the centre of a financial scandal that sucked several senior government officials three years ago, has collapsed.
According to reports from the neighbouring country, the closure of the company will see more than 250 workers losing their jobs.
Ziscosteel chief executive officer, Alois Gowo told standardbusiness the company had not been receiving adequate raw materials from the Redcliff based company leading to its collapse.
"The issue is that the company has closed shop and the management and the board are looking at means and ways of resuscitating it," he said.
"The primary problem was that Ramotswa Steel has not been producing anything, and this came against challenges at Ziscosteel of not producing steel given that our furnace had broken down.
"So we have not been supplying them with raw materials and that is why they have had to shut down business for now."
Gowo said Ziscosteel was prepared to bailout the Botswana subsidiary. But he could not explain how that would be possible given that the giant steel manufacturer was also facing operational problems of its own.
"That is a bridge that we will cross when we get to it," he said. "But the bottom line is that we will try and do our best to bail them out despite the fact that we have our own problems."
Ramotswa Steel managing director, Jemister Chininga last week told Botswana media, the company was desperately looking for a rescue package.
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Its amazing how Ziscosteel is been run,how does the plant break down?lack of maintenance,the leadership of this organization needs to understand you have to make a separate pot of money for the maintenance of the plants infrastructure.It does not make sense for the business not take care of the core of the plant,ie what butters the bread of Zisco answer the the furnace.This is not the only company facing this lack of vision in Africa,maybe it has something to do with the kind of education the leaders of these organizations have or is it the method these leaders are chosen.
zuluking...it has to do with both of what you cited. the type of education picked up from the re-education camps..remember..2 legs bad..4 legs good?? These fools are picked by fools that have shown their ineptitude by running a once thriving country into the ground and the laughing stock of the civilised world. so it is not surprising that fools that mirror the lack of common sense of their appointers are picked to ruin everything in their paths. To these bozos, one gets promoted to general manager status to enhance one's earning potential..by any means fair or foul...even if it means cooking the books! I once was good freinds with a guy whose brother worked for Cluff Mineral Corp....he had been given a top job in the org and yet he was creaming off 10% from deals on the side, and netting himself paltry amounts in an attempt to get rich quick and emulate the lifestyle of the big boys!!!!