Africa-Press – Lesotho. Dozens of workers at Suntextile are set to be sent home at the end of the month as the turbulence in the textile sector continues. A decline in orders from the United States and other markets has hit the textile company.
The human resource manager, ’Mahlompho Nkoko, confirmed to thepost this week that “many will have to go home”. Workers whose one-year contracts were set to expire later this month will also be affected by the downsizing, Nkoko said.
Suntextile, a company situated in the Thetsane Industrial Area in Maseru, employs about 600 people. She said the company has been experiencing inconsistent flow of orders ever since Covid-19 struck.
The deputy secretary-general of the National Clothing and Textile Workers Union (NACTWU), Tšepang Makakole, said they are still waiting for the company to organise a meeting with them to discuss the issue.
“We are waiting to hear from them and what they are planning to do with these issues so that we can (comment),” Makakole said. Yesterday there were no workers at the factory when thepost visited due to an electricity cut.
However, workers who spoke to our crew outside the gates said they were already anxious about the possibility of never getting back to the firm starting September.
Three workers, whose names thepost has withheld, said they are fearing for the worst come September. One worker said she was already struggling even with the M2 700 that she gets as her net salary to cover her basic needs.
“I am feeding five children, my three children and two grandchildren, my old and ill father and his nanny back home in Thaba-Tseka,” she said.
“I live in a shack,” she said.
“I cannot remember when last I entered a clothing shop to buy even an underwear.
” Another worker said her contract is due to end on September 9 and she too does not know how she will feed seven members of her family. She lives with her two daughters, a son, and three orphans. “I have no idea where to go,” she said. “There is no work,” she said.
A man who only identified himself as Lebohang said he has a university degree but had to go to the factories “because there are no other jobs around”.
“I am the only one who earns an income in a family of two children, an unemployed wife and my mother,” Lebohang said.
He said he pays rent where he stays with his wife and children. “I have to split the grocery into two so that I can send the other portion to my mother at home,” he said.
“The salary does not help me plan for my children’s future.”
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