The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) wagon carrying over 500 brand new brake blocks worth nearly US$50 000 went missing in December 2020 in Gweru leading to the dismissal of 56 employees.
The wagon was later discovered within the system empty.
This was revealed by the organisation’s public relations manager Mr Martin Banda following a petition by a group of dismissed employees to President Mnangagwa calling for the removal of the organisation’s general manager Mrs Respina Zinyanduko.
The petition, signed by 25 representatives of the fired former workers and has been circulated widely, was copied to the Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona, Parliamentary Portfolio committee on transport, corporate governance unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial chairman Cde Jabulani Sibanda as well as the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc).
Senior managers who were dismissed include public relations manager Mr Nyasha Maravanyika, chief engineer Mr Phillip Chifamba as well as acting procurement manager Mr Aziz Mwale.
Mr Banda said the former workers were bent on destroying the NRZ’s image and reputation through making inaccurate remarks. He said the fired workers were actually procedurally dismissed following the disappearance of a whole wagon in Gweru.
“The wagon was discovered missing between 15 to 27 December 2020 loaded with plus 500 brand new brake blocks and various used brake blocks meant for recycling. The total value was US$45 668,03. Investigations revealed that a number of people were involved from the first hearings which commenced in June 2021 leading to dismissals which went through to 31 December 2021 due to the number of people involved. Eventually the wagon was found abandoned in the system empty,” said Mr Banda.
He said the untruths carried by the petition was meant to harm the general manager’s good image and reputation.
“The authors of the said letters are known and have an agenda they are pushing to derail the process of cleaning the NRZ of malcontents. Due processes were carried out on all staff who were dismissed. For the record in year 2021, NRZ dismissed 56 employees in total and the majority of whom were implicated in the disappearance of one wagon full of brake blocks in Gweru. Furthermore, the managers being said to have been dismissed were involved in a case which was investigated by the Loss Control and Security Services department as well as the Internal Audit,” said Mr Banda.
Mrs Zinyanduko also stands accused of firing 20 representatives of union leaders in less than two years.She rejects the allegation saying only three were retrenched.
“Our petition’s demands to you, Your Excellency, are as follows, we demand the removal of Ms Respina Zinyanduko from the NRZ helm immediately and as a matter of urgency to save NRZ, Bulawayo’s industry and the nation, at large;we demand that the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Honourable Felix Mhona, takes immediate action at NRZ by firing Respina Zinyanduko for her corrupt tendencies and shenanigans at the railways to stop this rot; we demand that the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Honourable Felix Mhona dissolves the NRZ board with immediate effect as it has long-standing members like Major General William Dube who have been there since 2014 but have basically done nothing to improve the organisation,” reads part of the petition.
Mr Banda said the NRZ is committed to discharging its mandate transparently and through good corporate governance.
“It should also be noted that the purported petition to His Excellency the President of Zimbabwe, Commander-in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Cde, Dr E.D. Mnangagwa, does not bear any legal signature and therefore deserves to be dismissed the same way it was presented,” he said.
“It is the NRZ’s main objective to fulfil the shareholders’ objectives inclusive of turning around the institution as well as to uphold corporate governance as a priority for it to contribute meaningfully to the economic development of the country. This, as highlighted before by our Honourable Minister of Transport and infrastructural Development Cde Felix Mhona who stated that ‘transparency and accountability in financial matters is cardinal as it marshals the growth trajectory of public entities’, furthermore, that ‘Derived from the targets prescribed in the NDS 1, NRZ should adopt measures to ensure optimal implementation of corporate governance principles to turn around the performance of our Public Entity’. It should be understood that there is no other option for NRZ’s compliance with various corporate governance legislatives and policy frameworks.”