Mozambique March 2006 |
|
| Minister closes Chinese-owned companies, (Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, 2006-03-21):-Mozambique's Labour Minister, Helena Taipo, has ordered the closure of two retailers owned by Chinese citizens in Quelimane, capital of the central province of Zambezia. According to a Tuesday press release from the Labour Ministry, both companies broke Mozambican labour legislation, and violated the human rights of their workers. Taipo found that the Chinese owners of the company "Monte de Ouro" regularly assaulted and insulted their Mozambican workers. The place was also a threat to public health, since it possessed no functioning bathrooms. Anybody needing to excrete, had to do so into plastic bags, which were driven off to the city refuse dump at the end of each working day. At the end of each day, the management humiliated the workers by strip searching each of them, regardless of sex, before allowing them to go home. At the second company, Irmaos Comercio-Kodak, the employers were also found to have made a habit of beating Mozambican workers. The closure of the two companies has taken immediate effect - but, since the workers need their jobs, Taipo has said the Chinese employers will be allowed to reopen their doors, if they make a public apology to their workers, and to the population of Zambezia province. During her visit to Zambezia earlier this month, Taipo found several other irregularities. These were not considered serious enough to warrant closing down the companies, and so Taipo gave them 30 days to clean up their act. At the trading company Nathoobai and Sons, there were cases of assault and racism against workers. One Mozambican worker was stabbed by a foreign colleague (whose nationality was not given), and this case is currently in the hands of the police. At the joint Mozambican-Japanese fishing company EFRIPEL, Taipo found instances of gross maltreatment of Mozambicans by their Japanese colleagues on board the fishing vessels. The Japanese crew members are accused of allowing the Mozambicans to take a bath only once every six days. There was also discrimination in the allocation of meals, arbitrary sackings were reported, and the company refused to give workers time off to attend funerals. The shop Ten Win was accused of possessing its own private prison - a room where the employers would lock up and beat not only workers who displeased them, but also clients accused of theft. At another shop, the "Casa de Frutas", it was found that the employers (whose nationality was not stated) called their Mozambican workers racist names, and paid different wages to people doing the same job. Again, workers who demanded their rights risked a beating or the sack. Taipo also warned two private tea producers, the Zambezia Development Company (SDZ) and Chazeiras de Mocambique (part of the Gulamo Group), who have taken over what used to be state- owned tea plantations in the district of Gurue, that they had seven days to bring their practices into line with the labour law. These companies are still not paying their workforce the statutory minimum wage decreed last year. This minimum is 1,277,139 meticais (slightly more than 50 US dollars) a month for industrial workers, and 918,111 meticais a month for agricultural workers. Furthermore the two companies impose excessive overtime, and do not provide their employees with appropriate work clothing or with protective equipment such as face masks or ear plugs. Like many other provinces, Zambezia has a number of companies which, although not formally declared bankrupt, have been abandoned by their owners. The workers are still on the company's books, but have not been paid for years. Taipo demanded of her staff that they locate these employers - including those who have fled to Maputo - and find out the exact situation of the companies concerned. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |