The Sunday News
Shepias Dube Business Reporter
NATIONAL Railways of Zimbabwe senior management have come under scrutiny after allegations they were converting non-monetary allowances into cash and pretending they were not getting anything at a time workers have gone for several months without salaries. This was revealed by disgruntled employees who downed tools at the NRZ headquarters in Bulawayo on Thursday.
NRZ board chairman engineer Alvord Mabena confirmed that he had received reports of management abusing the facility of allowances.
“I have been informed that there are some unscrupulous elements in the senior management who are converting the non-monetary allowances into cash. NRZ is instigating thorough investigations and the culprits shall be severely dealt with,” Engineer Mabena said.
He said the prevailing economic hardships required everyone to make sacrifices and as such NRZ would not accommodate those who wanted to enrich themselves at the expense of the majority of workers.
The NRZ board chairman called upon the management to run the parastatal transparently for the interest of the public.
“NRZ is a public company and people should not guess on issues affecting it. It is the duty of management to inform the world what is happening in the company. That’s what transparency is all about,” said Engineer Mabena.
Workers who spoke to Sunday Business said management at the cash strapped parastatal were getting as much as $300 fuel allowance.
Management also get school fees and housing allowance although most of them stay in company houses.
NRZ spokesman Mr Fanuel Masikati could neither deny nor confirm the allegations levelled against senior management.
“I can confirm that management, just like other employees at the parastatal, are entitled to certain privileges according to the positions they hold. However, on allegations of people who convert certain allowances into cash I cannot comment,” he said.
Mr Masikati said NRZ was committed to paying its employees in time but was facing economic hardships which were beyond its control.
“As management we sympathise with the plight of workers and we are doing everything possible to pay them adequately and in time. However, business is very low due to the current liquidity crunch and the poor performance of industry,” said Mr Masikati.
NRZ’s main business is to move cargo which is availed by industry.
However, Mr Masikati said the company would prioritise the payments of its workers whenever funds were available.
“As it is we have started paying employees their outstanding salaries beginning with the lowest grade going up and we will continue with the payments as funds trickle in,” he said.
Information gathered by this news crew showed that the lowest paid employee, which is the “A” grade is paid US$140 per month.
Mr Masikati said the company owed its employees salary arrears of up to 10 months.
He said all the principals of NRZ were aware of the problems facing the company and were aggressively appealing for business from the corporate world.
