President
Mnangagwa has said the appointment of Cde Patrick Chinamasa as Air Zimbabwe
board chairman is above board.
In an interview
with Capitalk 100.4FM last Friday, President Mnangagwa said he was alive to the
fact that Air Zimbabwe was under administration.
Mr Reggie
Saruchera of Grant Thornton is the administrator since October last year, after
Government issued General Notice 758/2018, which placed Air Zimbabwe under
administration.
Some legal
practitioners have been insinuating that the appointment of Cde Chinamasa as
Air Zimbabwe board chairman last week, was offside since management of the
national flag carrier was “thrust in the hands” of Mr Saruchera.
But President
Mnangagwa said both the administrator and board have their duties clearly spelt
in terms of the law.
“That’s not a
problem (Air Zimbabwe being under administration); the board is a board of Air
Zimbabwe,” said President Mnangagwa. “The administrator, who is doing
reconstruction, has a period which he has been given. I am not ignorant of
that. So, I know where we are going, the board must be there.
“Those who get
frightened because we have put people who are going to drive things, it’s their
own fault. So, there is no conflict at all. The board has its duties spelt out,
the administrator has his duties or her duties spelt out. Let him do his duty
and let the board do their duty.”
Air Zimbabwe
has already recorded a number of milestones in its bid to get back to
yesteryear glory, with the recent acquisition of an Embraer ERJ 145 sparking
hopes of recovery.
The Embraer is
set to be deployed on domestic and regional routes, while two long haul
aircraft, the Boeing 777-200ERs acquired from Malaysia, are expected anytime
from now.
Government has
already paid for two B777s which should be delivered in the next few weeks.
Training
programmes for pilots and engineers earmarked to operate the planes have
started.
Payments for
two other B777s have begun, with US$5 million having been paid recently.
Air Zimbabwe is
also working on acquiring some narrow-bodied aircraft, Boeing 737s.
The revival of
Air Zimbabwe is also expected to help the country’s bid to widen trade with
other countries, and also boost tourism.
Tourism is on
an upward trajectory, with arrivals hitting almost 2,6 million last year,
representing a 6 percent jump from the year earlier.
The tourism
sector is a low-hanging fruit that is expected to help Zimbabwe in its quest to
attain an upper middle income status under Vision 2030.
Air Zimbabwe
officials say once the two B777s have been delivered, they will be deployed to
service critical routes such as Harare-London and Harare-Beijing, which have a
larger concentration of Zimbabweans.
The airline
used to service these routes at its peak. The move is expected to give them as
a “sense of pride”. Herald
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