CABINET has resolved that Zimbabweans living in the
diaspora should pay for Air Zimbabwe services in United States dollars,
Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Joel Biggie Matiza has said.
Responding to the Portfolio Committee on Transport and
Infrastructural Development report presented during the 2018 pre-budget seminar
held in Bulawayo last week, Matiza said Cabinet had approved the
recommendation.
“There are issues where the committee has recommended that
Air Zimbabwe charge in forex for both regional and international routes. My
ministry has already started engagements with relevant offices,” he said.
“On October 21, 2018, I presented a paper before Cabinet on
the same and we proceeded to engage my counterpart, the Minister of Finance on
November 6, 2018. He has indicated that he will engage the governor of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on the same. We are waiting for the response.”
Matiza said the issues he raised with the Cabinet included
that local travellers should pay in whatever currency—RTGS or US dollars, but
those in other countries who intend to come back home should pay in hard
currency rather than have their relatives buy them tickets using RTGS.
He said government was losing a lot of money through that
practice.
“So (in) that area, definitely, it was agreed by Cabinet
that it must be switched off. If you are coming from another country and you
source any currency where you are working or whatever, you need to pay in US
dollars,” he said.
The committee’s chairperson, Daniel Garwe, had earlier
recommended that Air Zimbabwe be considered a forex earner and be allowed to
charge in foreign currency for regional and international routes.
He also said the government should assume the national
airline’s debt, so that it attracts investors or partners on an equal footing.
“The ministry should attend to issues of good corporate
governance at Air Zimbabwe as a matter of urgency. The airline has been put
under reconstruction and there is need to ensure corrective steps are taken.
The committee will be conducting its oversight role with a keen interest on the
matter to ensure that national interests are preserved,” he said.
The committee recommended that Air Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe
Airways’ relationship should be clear, including ownership structures to ensure
that the process of merging the two airlines is transparent.
“Governance issues associated with Zimbabwe Airways, such
as ownership, should also be resolved before merging the two institutions,” he
said. Newsday
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