BOARD members for Bulawayo’s Ingwebu Breweries will soon
start receiving sitting allowances in foreign currency after the company posted
a huge chunk of its profits in hard currency.
However, this could put the brewery company at loggerhead
with its workers, who are still getting paid in local currency.
According to the proposal by the company management, the
Bulawayo Municipal Commercial Undertaking (BMCU) owned entity noted that 61 percent
of its revenue was in forex, hence the justification to pay board members in
hard currency.
BMCU is wholly owned by the Bulawayo City Council.
According to the proposal to its shareholder, Ingwebu management noted that the
sitting allowances for board members have been eroded in value hence the need
to revert to paying in foreign currency.
“The organisation’s forex revenue is currently 61 percent
of total turnover. Our proposal is that the foreign currency component of our
proposed sitting allowances be paid based on the foreign currency to total
turnover percentage with the balance paid in local currency at the prevailing
auction rate at the date of payment,” reads part of the proposal.
According to the new allowances the board chairperson will
get US$210 for a board meeting and US$195 for a committee meeting, the
vice-chairperson will get US$190 for a board meeting and US$175 for a committee
meeting while board members will get US$175 for a board meeting and US$155 for
committee meetings. In deliberating on the matter councillors, however, felt
that this could lead to staff members also demanding a foreign currency-based
salary.
“Their (Ingwebu management) was that this would be a way of
ensuring that their members made meaningful contribution and remained keen to
attend board meetings, unlike a situation where they brought their knowledge to
the table but were not equally rewarded for it. A good reward would result in
board members being fully committed to their roles so that the business continued
to benefit from their contributions,” reads a council confidential report on
the matter.
Early this year the brewery shelved plans of looking for an
investor to inject US$20 million into the entity with the beverages producer
reporting that it had come out from a loss-making position to a sound financial
footing following the successful implementation of a turnaround strategy.
The turnaround strategy, saw Ingwebu introducing new
product lines like the 1,5 litre and 2-litre calabashes of opaque beer and
diversifying operations into mahewu production as well as continued improvement
in capacity utilisation levels to 95 percent from 65 percent in the previous
years. Sunday News
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