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Michael Magoronga Midlands Correspondent

Ziscosteel chief executive Mr Alois Gowo has retired from the parastatal after serving for 35 years.

Zisco acting board chair Dr Gift Mugano confirmed the retirement and said works executive manager Mr Elphas Mahachi will be the acting CEO.

“When we joined in 2019, Mr Gowo had tendered his resignation, but we begged him to stay until the end of the year, which he did,” said Dr Mugano.

“We want to thank him for the time he served at the company and wish him well in his future endeavours.”

Mr Gowo said he was now a full-time farmer.

“Yes, I left the company in December last year. I now have nothing to do with the company, I can no longer comment on behalf of the company.

“I am now into full-time farming at my farm in Zvimba. I have done enough and it’s now time for me to rest,” he said.

However, he expressed disappointment over the failure to revive the former steel giant.

“My disappointment is that I have left before Ziscosteel was back in production. I so wished to play a part in its resuscitation. However, my wish is to see the company being brought back into production without further delay and that this should be in tandem with the recapitalisation of Hwange Colliery, NRZ and Zesa,” he said.

Mr Gowo joined the company in 1984 as assistant civil engineer before being promoted to plant civil engineer.

He rose through the ranks to become divisional manager civil engineer, then project and development manager before being appointed acting CEO in 2006.

He was appointed substantive chief executive in 2008, a time when the company started facing operational challenges.