Some Indian investors invited to revamp operations at one of Zambia's textile enterprises have been accused of stripping equipment at the plant, the Times of Zambia reported on Wednesday.

The state-owned Kafue Textiles of Zambia, about 130 km to the capital Lusaka, has been facing operational problems since the 1990s due to liquidity problems, a situation that forced the government to look for a strategic equity partner to revamp its operations.

The head of the union representing workers at the company said the stripping of the company's equipment had been ongoing, claiming that the new investors trading under African Textiles had allegedly opened a textile company in neighboring Tanzania using equipment stripped from the Zambian plant, according to Daily Mail.

"We have received information that instead of these investors investing in Zambia they are busy taking equipment to another country where they want to start a new textile using our machinery, " National Union of Commercial and Industrial president Robert Munsanje was quoted as saying by the paper.

According to the union official, the textiles plant was meant for the community to benefit in terms of employment and warned that if the investors did not bring back the equipment the residents would not hesitate to stage a demonstration, adding that the government was informed way back about the stripping of equipment.

Meanwhile, the Zambian government has constituted a team of experts to probe allegations of stripping machinery at the plant by the Indian investors, Daily Mail said.

Felix Mutati, Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry confirmed that his ministry had received the report alleging that the investors had started stripping the company's equipment.

"I can confirm that my ministry has received a report and immediately a team of experts was constituted to probe the extent of these allegations to establish the truth," he was quoted as saying by the paper.