Operations at Vodafone Zambia have been paralyzed after workers went on strike on Tuesday.
And Vodafone Zambia Chief Executive Officer Lars Stork has been forced to retire as CEO of the company.
Some workers who spoke on condition of anonymity said Vodafone Zambia is broke and has failed to pay salaries for three months.
The workers said the company is in serious debt and everybody at the firm is blaming Mr Stork for the company troubles.
Mr Stork on the other hand has reportedly put the company on sale and offered to return to his home country, the Netherlands.
And in a statement, Board Chairman Gilbert Temba conformed that Mr Stork has retired.
Mr Temba said the Board and management has thanked Mr. Stork for his service to the company and wished him the best in his future endeavors.
He said the Board will be announcing a new CEO soon and other structural changes including new ownership of Vodafone Zambia.
Not Every thing that glitters is gold.
zabwino palibe…..three months sure…..then you keep voting for them.
@mukonchi001, can you educate me how voting has come into this topic? Was there voting at Vodafone?
These guys had no mobile licence tefyo?
So inakakana how to make money.
Vodafone is a big company worldwide failing to pay ma salaries it can’t never .
This must be a gonga Vodafone!
Same usual Nonsense foreign companies get the tax exemptions and at the end of the Tax Relief, they start declaring losses to take the money out of the Country. Until Zambians realize their own Zambians can do a better Job, will we get stable economic growth and sustained companies? I am sure CEO, CFO COO were all foreigners.
Kikiki
They will sell 20GB for about k250 and yet it would finish in a day by just using one PC
Welcome to Zambia.
Even farmers like Costane Chilala is bankrupt.
I need to get the all facts straight.
Has this company even lasted 1 year in operation?
Did Government (Zicta and Pacra) scrutinize the firm’s 2-5 years strategic plan before issuing a license?
How could this company be trading under the Vodafone brand and wallow in abysmal mismanagement and such serious shortcomings as alleged?
What is the number of the workforce at Vodafone Zambia?
Has the company remitted any taxes to ZRA?
Or is the competition so stiff that indeed, Vodafone Zambia cannot just cope?
The government should quickly move in and make sure this company pays the workers before the assets get liquidated. Don’t let them get away with this. Supervise the sale of the assets and get the money owed to the workers. If the government does nothing about this, it should be sued for allowing slavery in the country, and should be held responsible for the money owed to these Zambian workers. Secondly, the department of labor should have a law that forbids companies delaying salaries for their workers, even for a few days. Workers have to be paid ON TIME! Why should you allow a company to not pay the workers for 3 months? This is insane. This is the same reason foreigners laugh at Africans. Our government administration doesn’t seem to have any common sense to protect the workers…
(Continued)… in the country. Thus we get enslaved in our own country by foreigners, as we work for free. If you let this company get away with it, you’re sending a wrong message to other companies in the country. We know you’re incompetent, but wake up and protect the workers for now. You can go back to sleep after that.
Really laughable…Board Chairman were you in contact with H/q in Holland…this is not good for the Brand I tell you..they would have acted on this.
Some of these Dutch old guys just come to enjoy the young women in Africa …they have no chance of getting back in Holland.
Haha. Muna ti panga chongo na ALL OUT FOR OUR OWN koma you were eating ma John Cena na Mazoe for supper! 3 mash no pay? Where have you been taking the small small money you were making from data? Elo ma recent appointments, poaching from big telcos … aweh, muza mu ziba yesu!
alas,these problems can even grip vodafon……………….
The whole affair was a joke from the beginning. It was clear that it was scheme to steal from the usual unsuspecting Zambians including the young hardworking employees. There is a big gap on how assessments are done today between the old and current generation of young people. anything new on the market is easily accepted. Now what will happen to thousands who were service users? Its investment gone down the drain. Where was ZICTA and the Board? It had to take workers to take industrial action to force that boer out of the company in she company in shame. Shame on those concerned with the sad situation at VODAFONE. Its a big name out there here kantemba.
Not surprised about the turn of events. These vodafone areas operation were limited and failed to compete with MTN who could use scales and their customer care was pathetic and personally told one that they wont survive in such a competitive market.
Is this not the same board chairman at Kwacha Pension Fund where the CEO committed suicide when he was implicated in abuse of member contributions, and Deputy Chairman at Bank of Zambia? Hopefully, there are no red herrings at Vodacom that will involve him.
The same “VODAFONE” #ama levels.
I knew they were fake just when they lost me as a customer.
Zambian market is so competitive for any industry! However, my take is that the newly tightened ZRA tax regulations whereby tax breaks and incentives are no longer given to new entrants on FDI could have been the final straw for this one. Zambia is never going to be raped forever. Kudos to ZRA. This country needs to attract serious foreign investors with longterm goals and not the quick go in cone out mentality we have seen the last 27 years
This Lars left the company woth 420,000$. A 220 000$ bonuses and a prepaid salary for a 200,000$. He left zambia employees with no salaries for more than 3month. Lars with his bad management he broke 3 other Vodafone operations in Uganda, ghana and cameroon. He must be in Jail…
@10 Abdalllah Nassar..If what you are saying is true then IT IS OUR OWN FAULT AS AFRICANS for allowing ourselves to be a DUMPING GROUND FOR FAILURES FROM DEVELOPED COUNTRIES!! How can someone who failed so miserably in the countries you have mentioned find even a chance to work in a 4th country within the continent??
Sad news indeed about non payment of salaries to our fellow workers, i pray all will be sorted out amicably, i enjoy Vodafone network in kitwe, very very reliable indeed
These are the manifest results of neoliberal policies adopted by not just our government but countless others around the world that allow the free movement of capital across borders and serve global corporate interests.. Why could we not have taken the options of both retaining Zamtel (thank heavens for the reversal of that particular privatisation) and upgrading its infrastucture to international Vodafoneque ‘levls’? The new colonialism is economic, driven by a global oligarchy and delivered through mulinational corporations. Would we be willing to lose the myriad creature comforts and conveniences afforded us by being in bed with them bring in exchange for true autonomous sovereignty that delevops our nation on its own terms and in step with its own vision? We’re the generation that…
Lars Stork is definitely a con artist. He did the same in Cameroon and the company shut down with a year of operations leaving hundreds of Africans jobless. Too bad