Source: AirZim rot sparks Mugabe concerns – DailyNews Live
Fungi Kwaramba 25 May 2017
HARARE – The deepening rot at struggling flag carrier, Air Zimbabwe, is
said to have triggered serious safety concerns among security chiefs and
brawling Zanu PF bigwigs – who are worried about the safety and security
of the hired planes that President Robert Mugabe now regularly uses for
his official travels.
This comes as the debt-ridden national airline is barely managing to stay
afloat, and to keep operating its creaky aircraft – a development which
has lately forced, Mugabe, its single biggest customer, to hire private
jets from overseas.
It also comes as Air Zimbabwe has been banned from flying into Europe over
safety concerns – further complicating Mugabe’s frequent travel plans to
international destinations which are not covered by the current travel
restrictions on him.
Well-placed sources told the Daily News yesterday that security chiefs
were becoming increasingly concerned with Air Zimbabwe’s worsening
problems – which they feared could see the airline’s long-range planes
remaining grounded, and necessitating the continued leasing of allegedly
“risky” overseas planes for the nonagenarian’s use.
Brawling Zanu PF factions were similarly said to be rattled by the rot at
Air Zim, with party insiders saying both Generation 40 (G40) and Team
Lacoste kingpins were concerned that Mugabe was being “exposed to either
harm or intelligence stings” by travelling on hired private jets.
The former liberation movement is currently being devoured by its deadly
tribal, factional and succession wars which have seen the ruling party
splitting into two distinct camps – with the G40 camp fiercely opposed to
Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeding Mugabe.
“Many chefs are worried that there seems to be no real appetite to fix the
problems at Air Zimbabwe, yet the president is dependent on its planes for
his travels.
“It is in that light that people are worried by the growing reliance on
foreign private planes which the president is now using, because all the
crew in such cases is also foreign.
“Even if planes and crews were vetted, one can’t still tell what a person
is thinking, especially with the acts of terror and espionage that we
witness today. Foreign crew has no allegiance or loyalty to us, so this is
a huge problem,” one of the sources told the Daily News yesterday.
But Transport minister Joram Gumbo said there should be no worries over
Mugabe’s use of private planes, as his ministry was sure that the jets
were hired from credible people.
“As far as we are concerned they (private planes) are fine … when we
look for the planes, we know there is a potential danger and we make the
necessary assessments to ensure that the ones we use are fine,” Gumbo
said.
He added that government was working on a plan to change the fortunes of
the cash-strapped national airline, although he also conceded that this
would be a herculean task.
“It is not an easy thing to turn around the airline. I tasked the board
with putting a turnaround programme together and they now have a strategic
2017 to 2020 plan.
“Beginning this month, government assumed the Air Zimbabwe debt to make it
attractive to investors. What is now left is the implementation of the
plan, and we have approached different airlines in this regard.
“But until we resolve that we will continue to work as we are doing now.
Everything is on course, but it is not any easy thing,” Gumbo told the
Daily News.
The badly mismanaged Air Zimbabwe has been battling myriad problems over
the years, including failing to service its ginormous debt.
The flag carrier is also said to be losing up to $3 million a month, in
addition to being saddled with a $300 million declared debt.
The extent of the rot devouring Air Zimbabwe was first exposed to the
public in March when it was revealed that Mugabe was resorting to hiring
private jets for his overseas travels, after it emerged that the
poorly-performing national carrier had failed to service its planes.
As a result, Mugabe had to lease a private jet from Bahrain, which he used
to travel to Singapore and Ghana then.
Mugabe used the same plane during his trip to Singapore last week and on
his latest trip to Mexico where he is attending a climate conference.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC said yesterday that the problems
at Air Zimbabwe were “beyond” the Zanu PF government’s capabilities.
“The spectacular collapse of Air Zimbabwe, together with the demise of
several other State-owned enterprises, bears stark testimony to the
incompetence, inefficiency and corruption that has become the hallmark of
the Zanu PF regime.
“After inheriting 14 or so fairly new aircraft at independence in 1980,
the Zanu PF regime over the decades has trashed and ransacked all
parastatals, including Air Zimbabwe, which hardly has any air-worthy
aircraft left at the moment,” MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu said.
“Mugabe should be ashamed of chartering a private plane for his numerous
and purposeless foreign escapades, simply because the national airline,
Air Zimbabwe, is now broke and insolvent.
“It is beyond the capacity of the Zanu PF regime to resuscitate Air
Zimbabwe or any other State-owned corporation for that matter,” Gutu
added.
Last week, Air Zimbabwe, plumbed to new lows after it was banned from
flying into Europe over safety concerns.
“Today, the European Commission updated the EU Air Safety List, the list
of non-European airlines that do not meet international safety standards,
and are therefore subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions
within the European Union.
“Following today’s update, a total of 181 airlines are banned from EU
skies: 174 airlines certified in 16 states, due to a lack of safety
oversight by the aviation authorities from these states.
“The airlines Med-View (Nigeria), Mustique Airways (St. Vincent and the
Grenadines), Aviation Company Urga (Ukraine) and Air Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe)
were added to the list due to unaddressed safety deficiencies that were
detected by the European Aviation Safety Agency during the assessment for
a third country operator authorisation,” the EU announced then.
Immediately after the ban was announced, Britain followed through with a
warning to its citizens, urging them not to use Air Zimbabwe.
“Air Zimbabwe has been refused permission to operate flights to the EU
because the airline has been unable to demonstrate that it complies with
international air safety standards.
“British government employees travelling to and within Zimbabwe have been
advised to use carriers that aren’t subject to the EU operating ban,” the
British Embassy said in a travel alert.
Air Zim’s fleet comprises two Boeing 767s, three 737s, three MA60s and two
Airbus A320s. However, only four of those are flying: one airbus, one
Boeing 767, one 737 and an MA60.
The national carrier has over the past three decades struggled to
shake-off claims of corruption and ineptitude, which has led to the
dismissals of several of its boards and senior managers.
Last month, the beleaguered airline was a subject of bad jokes after it
was involved in an embarrassing ticketing fiasco which saw it issuing
handwritten boarding tickets on its international and domestic routes.
This was despite the global aviation industry moving to electronic
ticketing, in line with latest standards approved by the International Air
Transport Association (IATA), whose policy is to ensure airline safety,
security and efficiency.
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