NetOne boss suspended

Learnmore Masunda, Chief Commercial Officer at state-owned mobile telecoms company Network Cellular (Pvt) Ltd (NetOne), has been suspended without pay following a series of allegations involving misconduct, conflict of interest, regulatory non-compliance, and corporate governance breaches bordering on corruption.

The suspension comes as Masunda reportedly seeks a meeting with President Emmerson Mnangagwa to discuss his case. Yesterday, he met with Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Martin Rushwaya regarding the matter.

Masunda has been embroiled in a tense boardroom dispute with senior executives, including NetOne chief executive Raphael Mushanawani. Mushanawani himself was arrested last October by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) over allegations of US$1.2 million fraud linked to a SAGE 1000 system upgrade to Sage L200.

Masunda was initially placed on forced leave on February 2 to allow an independent and confidential investigation to be conducted. Following the completion of the probe, which substantiated evidence on 10 charges levelled against him, he was formally suspended on Monday pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings.

The investigation was conducted by DT Guard Security, an independent private investigation firm. The process involved documentary review, structured interviews, policy and regulatory compliance analysis, and corroboration from informed sources.

Most of the allegations against Masunda were substantiated. As a result, disciplinary proceedings are underway, which could include criminal referrals where applicable, recovery of losses, and control remediation - a systematic process of identifying, analysing, and addressing deficiencies or weaknesses in NetOne's internal, IT system, or security controls.