Gweru-based shoe manufacturer
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
In an interview on the sidelines of the handover of personal protective equipment to Midlands Provincial Covid-19 taskforce,
"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."
"We got authorisation to work with limited employees and we have 150. The main line is the gumboots section to fight Covid-19.
"The Covid-19 has come and is affecting the human beings but we need to protect workforce. We have also started making face masks," said
He said production has also been affected by lack of raw materials.
"Supply of raw materials from
The shoe company donated over 200 gumboots and facemasks to the
Meanwhile, some hair salons, clothing, hardware, electrical and cellphone shops have re-opened in the high and low density suburbs in Gweru.
In the
Shop owners have said that although they had opened their doors, they had skeleton staff.
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