Staff Reporter
Government is set to combat corruption activities within the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) and has established a five member committee to investigate the conduct of that entity’s top bosses’ alleged corrupt activities.
Last Friday, the Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Mangaliso Ndlovu confirmed that a Special Investigation Committee was appointed to do a post morten on the operations of ZTA top executives.
“A five-member committee has been set up to do a post-mortem on the operations and dealings of top executives at the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), Act to ensure transparency, fairness and professionalism. It is hereby notified that the Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry has, in terms of Section 40 (1) of the Public Entities Corporate Governance Act (Chapter 10:31), appointed a Special Investigation Committee with effect from the date of the publication of the notice.
“The committee seeks to establish if the CEO benefited from the chief operating officer’s allowance. If so, how much, how payments were effected and whether there was board concordance for acting chief executive officers to get holiday allowances at chief executive officer’s level. If there is any breach in terms of the corporate governance Act, what are the recommended remedial measures and if there are any loopholes identified in the allowance system, the committee would make recommendations to prevent such occurrence in the future,” said Minister Ndlovu.
Additionally, the committee is also set to investigate the ZTA board on holiday and groceries allowances.
In an interview with this publication, a tourism sector analyst Tonderai Mangoro applauded the Government for its continued efforts in fighting corruption as well as ensuring transparency and sustainability in the tourism sector.
“Government should be applauded for its efforts in trying to cleanse the tourism sector. Corruption is a cancer that should be nipped in the bud. The committee established to investigate ZTA’s top executives shows that the fight against corruption is not a window dressing exercise but a serious exercise meant to weed out all corrupt elements from Government institutions,” said Mangoro.
Meanwhile, President Emmerson Mnangagwa in his 2017 inauguration speech identified corruption as one of the impediments to the country’s economic growth and declared zero tolerance to the scourge. Fighting corruption is seen as critical in the attainment of Vision 2030 of an Upper Middle Income status.
