By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:Paul Friedlander, the right-hand man to billionaire Natie Kirsh whose Chow Town (Pty) Ltd introduced Galitos Eswatini says, the sale agreement with Simbisa Brands Eswatini (Pty) Ltd was, among others, based on the workers continuous employment.

Friedlander who is based in London-Britain and owns various businesses in Eswatini, the United States and other countries, responded in detail subsequent to an article published this publication regarding the non-payment of workers terminal benefits worth about R4million, his Peninsular Capital (Pty) Ltd was a minority shareholder at Chow Town (Pty) Ltd, the company previously operating the Galitos franchise in Eswatini.

Speaking to this Swaziland News independent online publication on Friday afternoon, Friedlander first clarified that, companies are bought and sold almost everyday in Eswatini without terminal benefits being paid to the employees adding that, it’s for the good reasons on the basis that, the workers are not retrenched or made redundant.

“As you know, companies are bought and sold in Eswatini every day, without terminal benefits being paid. This is for good reasons. Firstly, the employees are not being retrenched or made redundant, but remain in constant employment by the company. So why would terminal benefits be payable? .Secondly, it would not be logical to pay terminal benefits to employed workers simply when ownership of a company changes hands. Why?, because the payment of a big lump sum of terminal benefits would act as an incentive for many employees to simply quit their jobs,” he said.

The international businessman further told this publication that, when selling a company, the employees become the most valuable assets and therefore, allowing them to leave or quit their jobs after paying the terminal benefits could potentially leave the company without human resources and, unable to operate.

“Nobody would buy a company on this basis. Staff are always the most important (and sometimes the only) asset a company has. So, ensuring that a new owner retains the company staff is essential, or what are they actually buying?,” said the businessman.

Friedlander said to the best of his knowledge, employees terminal benefits are paid when a company is closing down not when company A buys company B.

“It is not designed to be applied to normal situations where Company A buys the shares in Company B, from Company C,” he said.

On another note, the highly regarded international businessman further clarified that, “billionaire Natie Kirsh is not involved” in his companies including the sale of the company operating the Galitos franchise.