'Parastatals boards appointed on cronysim,' says Msipa

FORMER Midlands Governor, Dr Cephas Msipa, says cronyism, incompetence and greed are to blame for the rot that has permeated most State enterprises and parastatals.

Dr Msipa, who served on 18 boards in his prime when he briefly left Government between 1985 and 1995, said today's board members and executives were driven by the love of money in their operations.

He said: "My heart bleeds when I hear about the corruption that is taking place in most boards of parastatals. In my days, we were happy to just serve on any board. We took it as an honour and responsibility to serve our country in that capacity. I sat on a number of boards and was asked to do so because of my vast experience in government and the belief of shareholders that I could add value to the deliberations and decisions of those companies. They also valued my understanding of government policy, which was important in decision making".

Added Dr Msipa: "The problem as I see it, it appears now people are being appointed not so much on what they can contribute but in most cases, because they are friends of those who appoint them. Secondly, not much is taken into account of their political orientation or record of performance and thirdly, our people have adopted an attitude of 'get rich quickly by any means' with less emphasis on the need to be of service to one's country. This then becomes the root cause of corruption and I am happy that the Zanu-PF government under the leadership of President Mugabe is committed to zero corruption."

The Former Midlands Governor said the rot was equally prevalent in the private sector.

He, however, said the rot could be curbed once the process of appointing board members was revised.

Dr Msipa said those appointed to sit on any board, especially in parastatals, should view the appointment as a national duty.

"They should be proud to serve their country in that capacity. Competent people should be appointed. Once appointed they should try to understand how their organisation operates instead of just looking forward to getting paid their sitting allowance. In my days, the question of payment was not important.What was important was what I was asked to do," he said.

Dr Msipa said he would approach his assignment to any board as a challenge knowing fully well that he was expected to produce results.

He said some of the boards he sat on include the Agricultural Marketing Board (AMA) that oversaw the operations of the Cold Storage Commission, Dairiboard and the Cotton Marketing Board. He also sat on the Triangle Sugar Estates board, Bikita Minerals, Cairns Foods and many others.

Dr Msipa said AMA had the responsibility of buying grain in times of drought, not government.

He said the government could put its trust in AMA to feed the nation even during some of the country's worst years of drought like 1991 and 1992, because it knew AMA was efficient, competent and not corrupt.

"When in Triangle we parcelled out some pieces of land to some plot holders and assisted them to make a success of those schemes. This was much earlier than 2000 when we embarked on the fast track land reform. It proves our commitment to serve people first as opposed to today's boards that just want to line their pockets," said Dr Msipa.