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David Whitehead and Sons (DWS) workers on Wednesday obtained a High Court leave to apply for a judicial review against the sale of the company.
DWS acting chief executive Evelyn Mwapasa said in an interview the court ruled that the workers may proceed to apply for judicial review on June 27 this year.
“While we commend the move by the president for intervening, we are still proceeding with the court process,” said Mwapasa, who indicated that the company was from Tuesday operating normally after police locked out the workers last Friday.
Police intervened after the angry workers beat up Privatisation Commission (PC) consultant Arthur Stevens the previous day when he went to the company to collect information on the handover.
“The police left the company premises on Saturday, and the situation was normal as of Tuesday. We resumed work and we are operating normally,” said Mwapasa.
The PC decided to sell off the company at K73 million payable in 10 installments, but the workers have protested against the move culminating into demonstrations and court indulgence.
Mwapasa said the right price was at least K300 million.
“We are convinced this is a bad deal. We do not think as a country we should be mishandling assets the way this transaction has been conducted,” said Mwapasa.
The workers chanted songs against Mapeto Wholesalers and carried placards one of them reading “No to K73 million” .
They also chanted that they did not want the company to be taken by Asians because most employers of Asian origin have never shown social responsibility over workers.
,David Whitehead and Sons (DWS) workers on Wednesday obtained a High Court leave to apply for a judicial review against the sale of the company.
DWS acting chief executive Evelyn Mwapasa said in an interview the court ruled that the workers may proceed to apply for judicial review on June 27 this year.
“While we commend the move by the president for intervening, we are still proceeding with the court process,” said Mwapasa, who indicated that the company was from Tuesday operating normally after police locked out the workers last Friday.
Police intervened after the angry workers beat up Privatisation Commission (PC) consultant Arthur Stevens the previous day when he went to the company to collect information on the handover.
“The police left the company premises on Saturday, and the situation was normal as of Tuesday. We resumed work and we are operating normally,” said Mwapasa.
The PC decided to sell off the company at K73 million payable in 10 installments, but the workers have protested against the move culminating into demonstrations and court indulgence.
Mwapasa said the right price was at least K300 million.
“We are convinced this is a bad deal. We do not think as a country we should be mishandling assets the way this transaction has been conducted,” said Mwapasa.
The workers chanted songs against Mapeto Wholesalers and carried placards one of them reading “No to K73 million” .
They also chanted that they did not want the company to be taken by Asians because most employers of Asian origin have never shown social responsibility over workers.
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