By REBECCA MUSHOTA –

MORE than 300 former Zamtel workers are demanding payment of their retrenchment dues from the company worth K130 million.

According to a statement signed by the spokesperson for the former non-represented employees at Zamtel Violet Bwalya, the 308 former workers were aggrieved that despite a Supreme Court ruling in October that ordered Zamtel to pay the dues owed to them, the company had not made any payments.

The Supreme Court ruled that the former middle managers retrenched in 2009 be paid redundancy packages of three months basic pay for each year served, and pro rata for any uncompleted year served and costs.

Ms Bwalya said the amount at the time of judgment was K122 million, but had now accumulated interest to K130 million.

When contacted for a comment, Zamtel corporate communications manager Kennedy Mambwe said the company did not have a comment on the matter.

Ms Bwalya said Zamtel had issued media statements indicating that the company was doing well and that it had initiated several social and economic programmes that incurred huge amounts of money.

This, Ms Bwalya said, was proof that the company was doing financially well and was capable of paying the former workers.

“What is worrying is that Zamtel is on a nationwide campaign of celebrating the successful reversion of the company to the Zambian people without due regard to compensating its former workers,” Ms Bwalya said.

She appealed to Government, as the major shareholders in the company, to intervene and help settle what was owed to the former workers.

Ms Bwalya said the former workers were unable to provide for their families and that some of the litigants had even died without accessing their dues.