B&M Garments on the brink of closure
Pako Makolo | Friday April 15, 2016 12:59
B&M Garments has been in existence for more than 15 years in Botswana and its shareholders are based in Mauritius.
The firm’s managing director, Krishna Chinniah said since last year, the firm has been experiencing high operational costs, low sales and shortage of skilled labour, adding that they approached the Commissioner of Labour office to brief them about their predicament.
“We decided to inform the Commissioner of Labour about the problems we are facing. In Mauritius there is skilled labour. We informed the Commissioner that if the situation does not improve we may relocate to Mauritius,” said a worried Chinniah.
The MD explained that they have informed their employees about the situation that they are currently facing. Chinniah added that if the situation does not improve they will be left with no options, but to keep on retrenching workers in order to meet operational efficiencies. In November 2015, the firm had a total workforce of 400 people. However, in January this year, it did not renew the contracts of 300 workers, said Chinniah.
The situation is looking gloomy as more employees face the prospect of losing their jobs. “We are going to keep a small number of people. This month we are not going to renew the contracts of some workers. In May we have a list of 20 more people whom we may retrench,” said Chinniah.
Chinniah said their problem is compounded by the fact that their major market is in South Africa where the currency has been depreciating.
He said since they are based in Botswana, they pay their workers in the local currency as opposed to the South African rand, which is disadvantageous since the pula is slightly stronger than the rand.
Production manager, Charles Harry said their sales have decreased by close to 50 percent. “From January this year to April our sales are still depreciating. From May to June, we might not be having any orders,” said Harry.