The Sunday News
Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) has terminated contracts for nearly 100 cashiers, a move which the authorities say was meant to plug leakages at tollgates.
Zinara acting chief executive officer Engineer Moses Chigonyati said the roads authority was going through a restructuring exercise which saw contracts of 96 cashiers not being renewed.
Eng Chigonyati said Zinara had 250 cashiers on two-year contracts which expired on 15 January, 96 of which were not renewed for various reasons.
“I can confirm that we did not renew 96 contracts of cashiers that had expired. Some, it was because they had pending cases while in some instances, we were looking at leakages at tollgates. Not all cashiers were affected. We are also looking at the 96 that have been identified to see if some contracts can be renewed. Not all are going to be affected. This is part of the restructuring exercise that we are undertaking,” he said.
Eng Chigonyati dismissed claims that Zinara had offloaded 250 workers.
“We heard reports that we had terminated contracts of about 250 employees. Those reports were false. If anything, it is the discretion of the employer to whether or not renew an expired contract. It is not automatic. There was no victimisation whatsoever,” he said.
Zinara board chairman Engineer Michael Madanha added that the authority was simply carrying out a restructuring exercise.
“The executive did not renew contracts of some of its cashiers. This is part of our restructuring exercise. We are also trying to uphold professionalism at our tollgates. We forewarned our employees against various acts of misconducts. Some failed to repent,” he said.
Zinara has not only released 96 cashiers but also restructured its top management.
The new board investigated several cases and instilled a new corporate culture that saw a number of executives, including the chief executive officer, either resigning or being fired.
To provide management needed to transform the authority, the board asked for the secondment of Mr Suston Muzenda from the parent Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development to oversee the stabilisation of the organisation and recruitment of new senior executives.
