News / National
MDC-T senator grumbles over political discrimination in parastatals
16 Mar 2018 at 06:56hrs | Views
MDC-T senator for Bulawayo Gedion Shoko has grumbled that there was serious political discrimination in parastatals as he experienced its during his time at National Railways of Zimbabwe.
He said he worked in a parastatal for about forty years and when he talks about these things, he understand the problems that are there in these parastatals.
"I am not talking from a book or newspaper experience. We need the Minister to look at the issue of having another parastatal in the President's office. That issue must be looked at seriously. I think that the issue of the Auditor-General looking at these people that are going to apply is very important. We need an independent board or entity that is going to look at these people because if we are not very careful, we are going to go back again to our political parties where people that are going to go into these boards are going to be political animals. Let us try to avoid that," he said.
"We can avoid it through the Auditor General because we have realised that we have got one of the best audit section or department in the country. When we think that the Minister must look at that instead of establishing another parastatal in the President's office - that is very important. If you establish that there, we are still going to have a problem when you are trying to appoint management."
Shoko said he worked at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) and started working there when he was 20 years.
"I retired there and you would find that when you want to appoint the General Manager of the NRZ, it would take five years because the people that are appointing are looking at a person who is compliant. In this country when you are said to be compliant, it is because you have got a particular political party's card. If you do not have that card, you are not compliant," he said.
"My name was submitted to a parastatal as one of the board members. I was told that the President's Office had rejected my name because I was not compliant, and I am a security risk. I could not understand why I am a security risk because I am a Zimbabwean. My being a security risk is because I belong to another political party which was not the party that the President's Office thought I should belong to."
He said he worked in a parastatal for about forty years and when he talks about these things, he understand the problems that are there in these parastatals.
"I am not talking from a book or newspaper experience. We need the Minister to look at the issue of having another parastatal in the President's office. That issue must be looked at seriously. I think that the issue of the Auditor-General looking at these people that are going to apply is very important. We need an independent board or entity that is going to look at these people because if we are not very careful, we are going to go back again to our political parties where people that are going to go into these boards are going to be political animals. Let us try to avoid that," he said.
Shoko said he worked at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) and started working there when he was 20 years.
"I retired there and you would find that when you want to appoint the General Manager of the NRZ, it would take five years because the people that are appointing are looking at a person who is compliant. In this country when you are said to be compliant, it is because you have got a particular political party's card. If you do not have that card, you are not compliant," he said.
"My name was submitted to a parastatal as one of the board members. I was told that the President's Office had rejected my name because I was not compliant, and I am a security risk. I could not understand why I am a security risk because I am a Zimbabwean. My being a security risk is because I belong to another political party which was not the party that the President's Office thought I should belong to."
Source - Byo24News
