The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) board and management are suspected of giving themselves illegal holiday and grocery allowances during the Covid-19 period.
This has led to the Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu forming a five-member special investigative committee.
The committee is required to determine whether the alleged allowances were approved and whether they were permitted by the Public Entities Corporate Governance Act.
General Notice 73 of 2023, which was published yesterday in accordance with the Public Entities Corporate Governance Act, contained Minister Ndlovu’s announcement of the committee’s appointment.
The Minister outlined the mandate of the committee for the top two managers, the CEO and the COO, and stated that the committee was to determine the policy on holiday allowances for ZTA CEO Winnie Muchanyuka; the policy on holiday allowances for COO Mr. Givemore Chidzidzi; and whether there are any provisions for Mr. Chidzidzi and if when acting as CEO he benefited from the COO allowances, and if so by how much; how payments were effected and whether the board agreed for the acting CEO to get holiday allowances at CEO level.
Additionally, the committee must determine whether the Corporate Governance Act was violated, and if so, propose corrective action.
The committee must also determine whether the allowance system has any flaws or inadequacies and make suggestions on how to avoid similar incidents in the future.
ZTA board members may have also received holiday and grocery allowances during the Covid-19 period.
The minister instructed the committee to determine if board members received grocery allowances throughout the Covid-19 period, the rationale for the allowance provision, and whether a board resolution to that effect existed.
If the allowances were paid, the committee must determine whether the Corporate Governance Act allows for this.
