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.”-State media