A financial expert has called on the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF) to implement a stringent and uncompromising strategy to eliminate incompetence and impunity within the companies it oversees.
In the 1990s, State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) contributed 40% of revenue to the national treasury. However, by the end of the decade, these contributions plummeted due to political interference, corruption, and embezzlement. This led to the transformation of many SOEs into financial burdens on taxpayers.
Air Zimbabwe, now under MIF management, exemplifies this decline. Once a leading airline, it has become synonymous with corruption, mismanagement, and fund abuse.
Similarly, the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has been plagued by excessive perks for managers, tender manipulation, and poor service delivery, driving the entity to its lowest point.
Most entities under the MIF, led by Chief Executive Officer John Mangudya, are riddled with issues requiring immediate intervention.
Speaking to NewZimbabwe.com, financial analyst Owen Mavengere emphasized the urgent need for the MIF to ensure that the country’s newly established Sovereign Wealth Fund operates with the utmost integrity and efficiency.
“The MIF needs to engage professional bodies to offer training and development programmes to enhance employee skills or to reskill completely. This should be in accounting, engineering, human resources, ICT, and so on,” Mavengere said.
He recommended conducting a comprehensive audit of staffing levels to identify areas of overstaffing and implementing a merit-based system for hiring and promotion. To avoid workforce shock, a natural attrition process could be considered to reduce staff numbers.
Mavengere suggested that the MIF take immediate actions such as implementing transparency measures, conducting audits, establishing oversight bodies within subsidiaries, digitizing processes, and reducing red tape.
He also advised benchmarking performance against leading global institutions to adopt best practices in governance, transparency, and operational efficiency, citing examples from similar bodies in Rwanda, Singapore, Ethiopia, and the UAE.
“Above all, the MIF can promote ethical behavior through training and awareness programmes and ensure that leadership sets a positive example by adhering to the highest ethical standards,” Mavengere added.
