Maputo — A Maputo engineering company, the Vulcano Iron Works, has closed its doors, alleging bankruptcy, and leaving its 25 workers unemployed, with no prior notice.

"We were caught unawares when on 25 March the gates of the company were not opened", some of the workers told AIM. On the gates there was a notice saying that the company, which has been operating since 1975, had gone bankrupt,

The local trade union representative, Fernando Manhique, said that the workers' only hope lies in intervention by the Labour Ministry. They have sent a letter to Labour Minister Helena Taipo, requesting intervention by the General Inspectorate of Labour.

According to Manhique, the closure of the company cannot be justified, because it is still profitable, and there are even some clients who are waiting for their orders to be delivered.

The man mandated to speak on the workers' behalf, Cardoso Guambe, said "the company is very profitable. There is no reason to close it down. The owners are acting unfairly".

AIM visited Vulcano Iron Works, in down town Maputo, three times on different days to try and talk to the company's management, but it was all in vain, because the gates were always locked.

AIM learnt from the workers that the company's owner, Lau Choi Ying Baronet, is a Portuguese citizen of Chinese origin. They said that nobody knows her whereabouts, and all efforts to contact her were fruitless. AIM asked for her phone contact, and the workers did not have it.

According to the workers, the company's equipment, including rectifying machines, lathes, welding machines, and a power generator, is modern and is all in good working order.

Manhique explained that in the past, Baronet once abandoned the company, leaving it under the workers' management. The workers say that they have information according to which Baronet is intending to sell the company, allegedly to open another in a different sector of activity.