News / National
Impala frets over attacks
07 Dec 2020 at 15:39hrs | Views
IMPALA Car Rental chief executive Thompson Dondo says the recent attacks on his firm have exposed his employees and family to grave harm.
In addition, Dondo has also dismissed as "false and malicious" claims that he was in partnership with the State in running his car rental business.
Speaking for the first time, since Impala Car Rental was accused of withholding information on one client who hired a car which was allegedly involved in "abducting" a journalism student in July, Dondo said his company had done nothing wrong.
"I can't let the nonsense go on and on as if I have something to hide or something to be afraid of. "I need you to know and understand that the majority of the people who are attacking me and my business are struggling political activists.
"One of our cars was hired by some individual and we have already supplied the name of this individual to police.
"After hiring our car, allegations are that this individual went and committed a crime," Dondo said in a statement released at the weekend.
"We were then challenged to provide details of this person because the vehicle that was used in committing this crime was hired from us. We didn't try to hide anything.
"We accepted that indeed this was our vehicle, but we couldn't disclose the name of the person who had hired the vehicle to people on Twitter and Facebook.
"Business law and ethics don't allow us to do that. We are a professionally run business and we don't dance to the tune of faceless people on social media platforms.
"When we were asked to facilitate investigations into the matter, we handed all the required documents. . . to the police. We cleared our name," Dondo further said.
He said Impala Car Rental had been subjected to malicious falsehoods - including having to contend with unsanctioned visits to its offices.
He said the unsanctioned visits had left him fearing for the safety of his employees and family.
"You never know what else such desperate people are capable of doing. This is now a threat to my life, family and my company. "They got into my premises without my consent. What is it that they will do next?
"We reported this matter to police and investigations are already underway," Dondo said.
He said Impala Car Rental was a family business which had been operating for the last 15 years. "I started this business about 15 years ago. Impala is my totem. I am a Chikonamombe, which comes from the Impala animal.
"This is a family business. If you look at our CR14 - the directors are my wife and my sister. I am the CEO," he added.
In addition, Dondo has also dismissed as "false and malicious" claims that he was in partnership with the State in running his car rental business.
Speaking for the first time, since Impala Car Rental was accused of withholding information on one client who hired a car which was allegedly involved in "abducting" a journalism student in July, Dondo said his company had done nothing wrong.
"I can't let the nonsense go on and on as if I have something to hide or something to be afraid of. "I need you to know and understand that the majority of the people who are attacking me and my business are struggling political activists.
"One of our cars was hired by some individual and we have already supplied the name of this individual to police.
"After hiring our car, allegations are that this individual went and committed a crime," Dondo said in a statement released at the weekend.
"We were then challenged to provide details of this person because the vehicle that was used in committing this crime was hired from us. We didn't try to hide anything.
"We accepted that indeed this was our vehicle, but we couldn't disclose the name of the person who had hired the vehicle to people on Twitter and Facebook.
"When we were asked to facilitate investigations into the matter, we handed all the required documents. . . to the police. We cleared our name," Dondo further said.
He said Impala Car Rental had been subjected to malicious falsehoods - including having to contend with unsanctioned visits to its offices.
He said the unsanctioned visits had left him fearing for the safety of his employees and family.
"You never know what else such desperate people are capable of doing. This is now a threat to my life, family and my company. "They got into my premises without my consent. What is it that they will do next?
"We reported this matter to police and investigations are already underway," Dondo said.
He said Impala Car Rental was a family business which had been operating for the last 15 years. "I started this business about 15 years ago. Impala is my totem. I am a Chikonamombe, which comes from the Impala animal.
"This is a family business. If you look at our CR14 - the directors are my wife and my sister. I am the CEO," he added.
Source - dailynews
