Govt reads riot act to parastatals minister gumbo . . . We are doing this in honour of President Mugabe’s visionary leadership both in the pre-independence and post-independence era
Minister Gumbo

Minister Gumbo

Nyemudzai Kakore Herald Correspondent
The Minister of Transport and Infrastractural Development, Dr Joram Gumbo, has directed parastatals and State enterprises to appoint substantively managers now in acting capacities or fire them if they are not performing. Speaking at the CMED strategy review workshop in Harare recently, Minister Gumbo said President Mugabe had tasked Government to ensure that all parastatals and enterprises sustained themselves and were able to declare dividends.

“Most of your staff are in acting positions, why? I do not think Zimbabwe is poor in terms of trained people and professionals who want the job. At Air Zimbabwe, l have 11 acting managers,” he said.

“The minister is there to appoint the board, but the board must make sure that management is there to deliver and take responsibility. Appoint and promote people if they deliver, but fire them if they fail to perform. If you are not performing as the board l will come and whip (you) and make sure you perform well.

“At our Cabinet meeting on Monday (last week), President Mugabe said we must make sure that State enterprises or parastatals should declare dividends, otherwise they do not need to exist and l am happy you are aware and by the end of this year, you will declare a dividend,” he said.

He said financial reporting in parastatals and public enterprises had been an area of concern but commended CMED for being up-to- date on its financial state- ments.

Minister Gumbo said if those in acting capacities were confirmed in their positions, they would be in a position to make critical decisions.

Minister Gumbo said he had tasked the CMED board to deal with legacy issues and was looking forward to receiving a report on the matter.

“I urged the board and management to shun corruption and devise strategies to root out this cancerous disease from within the establishment,” he said.

CMED lost $2,7 million after it awarded a fuel supply tender to a company trading as First Oil.

It failed to deliver the fuel despite being paid.

The minister also criticised the current situation where CMED is owed $23 million saying this affected its capacity to deliver on its mandate.

He said CMED should come up with strategies to stop further ballooning of the debt.

“Your service stations require a facelift to meet standards as well as match competition. I would like you to consider embarking on a massive refurbishment programme of your service stations to enable you to compete with other players on the market,” said Minister Gumbo.

CMED acting board chairman Mr Seymour Mpofu said the exercise to rehire some of its staff after the staff retionalisation exercise in 2015 was underway, while others were already back at work.

He said there were plans to expand its taxi business currently operating from Harare International Airport to Bulawayo and Victoria Falls.

CMED has also reopened 21 service stations.

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