The National Railways of Zimbabwe is slashing the number of
executive directors, the top layer of its management, from six to two, and
retrenching other senior managers as part of a restructuring expected to save
US$1.2 million a year.
The restructuring sees a revamp of the whole managerial
structure, that will result in managerial functions being reassigned into a
smaller and leaner group of top employees than the present six executive
directors and 15 senior managers.
Unlike past restructuring, which looked at eliminating
non-managerial and lower paid staff, the present effort targets a smaller group
of highly-paid staff.
The revamping of management comes after the recent retirement
of three executive directors: general manager Mr Lewis Mukwada, director
operations Mr Samson Bhuza, director corporate services Mr Misheck
Matanhire and marketing director Elector Mafunga.
The posts of general manager and chief operations officer
will remain at executive director level but the functions of corporate
services, marketing, finance and administration, and technical services will be
held by mangers at a lower level.
Addressing a press conference last Friday, NRZ board
chairman Advocate Martin Dinha said the restructuring was being done following
a directive through the State Enterprises Reform and Corporate Government Unit
in the Office of the President and Cabinet to streamline management and cut the
bloated executive into a smaller and leaner structure.
Advocate Dinha said the current streamlining was different
from past restructuring that mainly targeted shop floor employees, whose
contribution to the parastatal wage bill was low as compared to executives and
managers.
NRZ faces other problems that the board is fixing. An audit
has revealed the parastatal is losing almost $22 million annually to “space
barons” who lease NRZ properties countrywide and then sublet at far higher
informal rents.
According to an internal audit report on railways real
estate last month, about 110 tenants lease the NRZ properties and most then
sublet the properties at inflated rents in US dollars.
A sample survey of 10 of the 110 lease holders showed that
they pay NRZ a total of $45 576.33 per month while they earn $28 210 and US$2
270 ($182 666,90) a month. What it means is that the lease holders earn a total
of US$210 876.90 per month giving them a profit of $165 300.57 after paying $45
576.33.
Scaling up to the full number of leaseholders, means that
the NRZ could be losing more than $1.8 million a month, or $21.8 million a
year, Advocate Dinha said. As a result, the NRZ had resolved to cancel all
leases with the space barons to curb the abuse of its properties. Herald
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