A majority of Zimbabwe’s dysfunctional parastatals are overstaffed with two thirds of their staff deemed to be excess baggage, a government audit carried out last year has revealed.

Cabinet has since been informed that massive retrenchments are inevitable if the state enterprises are to be saved, sources said last week.

The inclusive government embarked on the audit soon after its inception in February following concerns that utilities such as the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) and TelOne were forcing consumers to sustain their huge wage bills through unreasonable tariffs.

As of December Zesa was spending US$7,6 million on salaries a month against revenues of US$46,3 million, the audit, which has been kept under wraps by the government reveals.

The highest paid employee was getting US$2 140 a month without allowances.
The National Social Security Authority (NSSA), which is struggling to pay pensioners reasonable monthly stipends, is another state entity that was found to have an unsustainable wage bill.

Its highest paid employee earns US$7 264 and its wage bill stood at US$724 112 as of December.
The audit shows the extent of the rot at the government-owned enterprises most of them managed by Zanu PF apologists and boards whose terms of office expired years ago.

Although Gorden Moyo, the Minister of State Enterprises and Parastatals said he did not know anything about the audit ordered by his predecessor Gabuza Joel Gabbuza, The Standard has it on good authority that its findings informed his presentation to cabinet last week which proposed an overhaul of the majority of parastatals.

The investigation concluded that in most cases two out of every three employees ought to be retrenched for the parastatals to operate profitably.

A considerable number of workers at parastatals are beneficiaries of Zanu PF’s intricate patronage system.
An audit by the Auditor and Comptroller General’s office last year revealed that 10 000 Zanu PF youths had been illegally employed by the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment as part of the party’s grand strategy to hang on to power.

Moyo said a cocktail of reforms approved by cabinet on Tuesday were about reversing the steady collapse of the parastatals, which has hindered the hugely anticipated renewal of the economy.
“Cabinet took a decision that salaries at parastatals should be affordable given the state of our economy,” he said.

He said line ministers have also been given a challenge to reconstitute boards of parastatals that fall under their ambit following a realisation that some of them operated without boards for years.

A number of strategic parastatals have boards led by retired soldiers seen to be serving Zanu PF interests. Some ministers are also said to be running parastatals “using remote control” after neglecting to appoint new boards, with some chief executive officers having been on an acting capacity for a very long time.

Moyo said the state enterprises had been given an ultimatum to take corrective action on a number of areas where they were found to be lacking in.

BY KHOLWANI NYATHI

Comments (2)

Show/Hide comments

Show/Hide comment form