By Trevor Makonyonga
Most people grew up being told that all that glitters is not good and somehow this is a statement that is easily overlooked. A classic example of this adage is billionaire businessman, Strive Masiyiwa’s flopped Television project, Kwese TV. The company was full of potential but closed after only two years of operation.
When it was operational, employees at this glittery and sophisticated company gave their all to make sure the status of the company would be of a high standard.
In what is now a concerning situation, two years have now passed and employees not received their salaries.
Bustop TV spoke to some employees who revealed that since a communique at the beginning of the year, nothing had come their way.
The saddest revelation is that one former employee tried to silence a certain whistleblower on social media by claiming that he had been paid up in full and that there was no need for anyone to come between the employees and their former employer.
Another revelation that was gathered is that World Cup winning rugby forward, Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira who is said to have at one time worked at Kwese Sport in the production department has been too silent when his colleagues were wallowing in an uncomfortable situation.
This has led to some stakeholders to believe that they might have been cherry picking in giving packages or that some of the employees are still benefitting from Masiyiwa’s other business ventures that’s why they would want to silence whistleblowers.
The biggest question is that could it be that Strive Masiyiwa and Kwese are dribbling past the former employees? A letter to creditors showed that a certain company had been sold hence some money would be paid up to creditors.
The letter reads:
“Dear Creditors
We are pleased to share with you a status update for Econet Media Limited (Subject to Deed of Company Arrangement) (“EML”).
Kindly note that the offer received from Hey What’s On Media and Production Limited for the shares of EML in Kwese Free TV Limited was rejected and another offer was accepted from Mediaviva Production Company Limited (“Mediaviva”). Please find details for the offer received from Mediaviva in the attached status update.
We expect to conclude the sale transaction with Mediaviva by end of September 2020. Creditors’ claims will be paid once proceeds from the sale is received, in accordance with the Deed of Company Arrangement which was voted on 14 November 2019.
Should you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.”
It has to be said that pinning hopes on the sale of Econet Media Limited alone might not be sufficient as this entity might not fetch enough given that it’s being sold as a dead wood.
It seems as if Econet through the Kwese brand is just buying time and constantly disappointing former employees who dedicated their time and effort in this venture.
The consistency in the postponement of payments is nothing short of appalling and it can only be hoped that the latest communication that they will get their money by September 30 will be met.
