Retrenched workers of Gupta-owned company blame govt for its closure
Mabena is one of the hundreds of workers who have not been paid by VR Laser Services in six months. He, like others, blames the government.
VR Laser Services was one of eight companies owned by the Gupta dynasty. The company specialised in building armoured trucks for banks, Denel and the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Its demise has been a spectacle to watch, with shady dealings and businessmen linked with its possible revival. However, the real story lies with the hundreds of workers who have been left without employment.
Even worse, according to VR Laser’s former Financial Manager, Claire Tomsett, stated that the workers had not been paid since April.
The contributing factor to VR Laser Service’s demise
In Tomsett’s own words, It all fell apart for VR Laser when commercial banks boycotted all entities linked with the Gupta family. This led to the closure of the company’s bank accounts with the Bank of Baroda — the Gupta-owned facility — pulling out earlier on in the year.
Without a bank account, VR Laser could not operate any longer and creditors are, well, creditors. The only thing they are concerned with is their money.
Therefore, on Thursday, scores of businessmen huddled around the factory floors of the company, in the hopes of walking away with bargained assets.
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VR Laser Service sells off the last of its assets to pay creditors
According to IOL News,
The auction saw the businessmen slugging it out to buy items including plant machinery, vehicles and office furniture at reduced prices. One crane fetched R1.75-million, while it was believed to be valued at more than R4m. A Mercedes Benz truck was sold for R260 000.
A businessman got a Ford Ranger bakkie at R80 000, while a 2010 Kia bakkie was auctioned at R57 500.
The auction was led by business rescuers, Louis Klopper and Robert Knoop. After dealing with the storm that came about after the announcement of the sale of assets to raise R347-million to pay creditors, the rescuers successfully saw off the process without any hiccups.
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Workers blame the government for failing to save VR Laser Services
However, the workers watched on in sadness as the assets they had worked on for many decades were sold off at discounted prices.
Sipho Mabena, one of many of the workers who have been retrenched without being paid for six months, reflected, in utter sadness at the bleak state of things.
“How can we lose our jobs because of a mere bank account?” he asked. “There were still jobs here. The only thing that the company doesn’t have is a bank account”.
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Instead of pointing the finger at those who Tomsett identified as the reason why they are unemployed at the moment, the workers have blamed the government for the fall of VR Laser.
“The government has really failed us. It’s disappointing that it allowed a company like VR to just collapse. We were building vehicles for Denel even before the Guptas bought the company,” he said. “We didn’t choose to work for them. They found us here and messed up our beautiful work.” Mabena stated, in frustration.
With the assets sold off and the company no longer in existence as from Thursday, the retrenched workers can only rely on their unemployment insurance fund to make it through this tough time.