eBusiness Weekly
Africa Moyo
Air Zimbabwe’s under fire chief executive officer Captain Ripton Muzenda is expected to meet the national flag carrier’s board this morning in a do-or-die meeting, amid indications that several board members want to see his back, Business Weekly can exclusively reveal.
The meeting comes in the wake of reports that Cpt Muzenda is a dead man walking, for defying the board several times although other reports say that there is internal push to get the CEO sacked on allegations that he did not possess the right qualifications to lead the key parastatal.
He is also accused of defying the board’s call to retrench 300 employees.
It is understood that the most vocal of senior Air Zimbabwe officials who are against Cpt Muzenda are engineers who think a like-minded candidate should have gotten the job ahead of him, a pilot.
Cpt Muzenda, who has been at the helm of one of the country’s hot seats since August last year, could be jobless by the end of day if the board is unanimous on his sacking.
Authoritative sources close to the unfolding drama at Air Zimbabwe said while there is discord between the CEO and the board, the affable Cpt Muzenda was stunned to see the issue playing out in the media.
“Cpt Muzenda was surprised to see the issue in the media. To the best of his knowledge, this is still a private issue between himself and the board.
“He will be meeting the board tomorrow (today). The whole matter was supposed to be confidential. I do not know how the matter got into the Press since he reports to the board and the Honourable Minister (of Transport and Infrastructure Development Dr Jorum Gumbo).
“There is no way he would have bypassed them on any issues pertaining to the business and even his departure.
“Cpt Muzenda’s attitude on the issue is to wait for the board to speak, and not him,” said the source.
This follows reports that Cpt Muzenda had already stepped down after writing them resignation letters, on two occasions.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Cpt Muzenda only said: “This is best handled by the Honourable Minister and the board.”
Minister Gumbo, who is working flat out to give Air Zimbabwe a fresh lease of life under a new name – Zimbabwe Airways – declined to comment on the issue saying he did not have the information since it was largely operational.
He referred further questions to the Air Zimbabwe board led by Professor Chipo Dyanda.
“Ask the Air Zimbabwe board because it is a board issue. The Minister only appoints a board which is responsible for running Air Zimbabwe so talk to them,” said Dr Gumbo in a short response.
Efforts to get a comment from Prof Dyanda yesterday were fruitless as she was not answering her mobile phone.
Prof Dyanda had not returned the call by the time of going to print.
Air Zimbabwe is one of the critical parastatals that Cabinet wants revived given its central role in economic turnaround, particularly from the perspective of bringing tourists into the country.
Tourism is seen as a low hanging fruit that can help turnaround the economy.
Cabinet has since approved the takeover of Air Zimbabwe’s $334 million debt as part of grand efforts to clean its balance sheet and resuscitate its operations.
The pressing need to revive Air Zimbabwe’s operations has turned the post of CEO at the national airliner into a “hot potato” resulting in many bosses failing to stay longer.
Should Cpt Muzenda be sacked at today’s board meeting, he will become the seventh casualty in the last 14 years.
