Cabinet needs reshuffle: Dongo

via Cabinet needs reshuffle: Dongo – DailyNews Live by Margaret Chinowaita  7 MARCH 2014

Outspoken former legislator Margaret Dongo has called for a Cabinet reshuffle to get rid of ministers that were superintending over parastatals offering “obscene” compensation to chief executives.

Dongo’s comments may fuel the uncertainty facing President Robert Mugabe’s government as it tries to fix an ailing economy and curb corruption.

A reshuffle could increase tensions in the ruling Zanu PF party, which has struggled to deal with graft and factionalism.

But some supporters of a reshuffle say it may be the best way to disarm criticism of the government’s record in tackling corruption by giving Mugabe a bigger stake in the ruling party’s success.

“It is not too late or too soon to do a Cabinet reshuffle,” the ex-freedom fighter told the Daily News yesterday.

“We have indicators to call for an investigation of all the parastatals, thanks to Jonathan Moyo who first brought out the rot at ZBC.”

The former Zimbabwe Union of Democrats (ZUD) president said “the fish rots from the head” so the ministers should be sacked.

The media has in recent weeks exposed sensational details about managers of State-owned firms earning millions of dollars in salaries while the economy stutters,  among them Premier Service Medical Aid Society (Psmas) paying its chief executive officer Cuthbert Dube close to half-a-million dollars a month.

The former MP for Harare East said the parastatal bosses were earning way more than their entitlement

She spoke a day after the Daily News reported that junior doctors in government service earn a paltry $283 a month.

“Does Zimbabwe have a salary structure for private and public entities?” Dongo asked.

“What would a graduate have to do to make sure that he would be paid that much? I calculated the ratio and established that graduates are being paid a ratio of 1:94 to these chief executives.”

The lack of proper salary structures was leading to abuse of the system, Dongo, who hoped to oppose President Robert Mugabe in the 1996 presidential elections but did not meet the minimum age requirement of 40 years, said.

“People who are selfish and greedy have exploited the system,” she said.

“They are stealing within a legalised position.

“But what surprises me is that there are people who processed the salaries of these bosses but they never spoke about it. Someone could have blown the whistle but there is an element of fear of the unknown. The civil servant or officer automatically feared, the fear of uncertainty. The system is wrong.”

 

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