The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
FORMER Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr Gideon Gono has mourned the passing of seasoned banker and Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (Zida) chief executive officer, Mr Douglas Munatsi.
Mr Munatsi (51) died on Monday morning in a mysterious fire that authorities say is now under investigation.
In his condolence message, Dr Gono described Mr Munatsi as a bright mind in the community of bankers.
He revealed that he had known, Mr Munatsi since the late 1980s where the late banker had played an advisory role Dr Gono in his decision whether or not to leave the Zimbabwe Development Bank then, now IDBZ for CBZ in December 1994.
The former RBZ governor revealed that Mr Munatsi had impressed on me to join the then distressed Bank of Credit and Commerce (BCCI) which had collapsed and the Zimbabwean entity needed someone to turn it around.
“I had come out tops in interviews and psychometric tests done by Price Waterhouse Coopers then but was reluctant to take the job. Doug took my Masters in Business Administration dissertation to the then Acting Minister of Finance and Economic Development who at that time was none other than the current President, Cde Mnangagwa who later invited me to his offices at Parliament Building to talk to me about the job and Government’s turnaround expectations of the Bank.
“After the talk from Cde ED, I went for the job but it was all Doug’s doing. My career would probably have been quite different to what it is today had it not been for Douglas Munatsi. He obviously never wanted this talked about but today I can open-up to it,” said Dr Gono.
Dr Gono further described Mr Munatsi as cheerful and hardworking stating that during his ten-year tenure as Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the Mr Munatsi-founded Banc ABC was one of his least head-aches as it was always well-run and exemplary in many respects, impressively ticking all corporate-governance boxes without a stretch of pretense.
“Doug was also not just a young brother and banker to me but our farms share boundaries in Norton and he was such an incredible seed maize, potatoes, barley and wheat grower in addition to being a prolific cattle farmer,” said Dr Gono.
