Sydney Gata is no hero

When US president Abraham Lincoln said that one can fool some people sometime, but one cannot fool all the people all the time, he forgot to add that Zanu-PF, as a stalwart, disciplined and principled party has no problem trying to fool all the people all the time.

The assertion that the late Brother Sydney Gata, chairman and chief executive of Zesa (Electricity Commission) is a hero is a manufactured truth.

I have searched with diligence Gata's career and have failed to see any association with virtue and self-sacrifice, qualities necessary for a hero's life.

Instead, I discovered a trail of shenanigans. In 2019, 10 years after his dismissal from Zesa, Brother Gata appealed his case to the labour board. The volatile nature of the Zimbabwe dollar had eroded his pension.

But what he failed to acknowledge was that the inept system he had created at Zesa had failed him.

His cited the "absence of board resolutions confirming terms and conditions of his retrenchment (nice word for dismissal) as well as undocumented part payment by Zesa over the disputed period."

Further, he had received ZW18.313 billion (2007) ZW59 .615 billion (2008) …he was given a further US292 723 (2015-2017), two Benzes and a twin-cab and a house. (Source - The Herald  February 6, 2018)

Gata was appointed general manager of Zesa in 1982 and chief executive officer in 1986 and member of the Zesa board.

The fact that he alludes to the "absence of resolutions by Zesa board" and undocumented payments to himself illustrates the kind organizational malapropism he was addicted to when he was chief executive.

Also, he was executive chairman 2001-2006 and again between 2019-2025.

Unless one owns the company, the position of executive chairman means that he controls the agenda, has a say on who comes on board, approves his own salary and reviews his own performance.

The brother was running an unorthodox company, or a one man show.

In any case, he takes no blame for the closure of Mutare, Munyati and Harare power stations, at a time when power usage was growing.

I see no vision there.

Nevertheless, a stalwart Zanu-PF apparatchik has manufactured a glowing report of his vision.

 My foot.

"His leadership at Zesa transformed the organization during some of its most challenging times, addressing critical power issues." The stalwart referee adds the only sentence which would have awarded the brother some virtue.

 Gata "improved service delivery and was passionate about the welfare of the entire Zesa family." (Stalwart writer unnamed- July 4,2025)

The blackouts, now lasting 16 hours of the day prove that the stalwart writer lives in Shangri-La and not in Zimbabwe.

That the welfare of the Zesa family was improved is a manufactured truth.

 Gata is not entirely to blame for the destruction of the Zimbabwe dollar, though he was a stalwart supporter of the actions that led to it. 

 Zesa retirees are not doing well with ZW1 000 per month (US40).

Virtue

I have examined Gata's character with reference to virtue, that quality necessary for heroic status.

The name and deeds of a national hero must inspire every boy or girl who visits heroes' acre.

Humility, compassion, temperance, wisdom and a sense of sacrificial martyrdom, in that order are some of the virtues of a hero.

I find no such qualities in the brother.

In his first stint as general manager, at the age of 34, Gata may have been favoured because of his marital relationship with Robert Mugabe's sister.

A review, conducted by Justice David Smith made simple recommendation.

"Sidney Gata is unsuitable for the position of chief executive." Justice Smith reported.

Having divorced and remarried (a relative of Mukuru) he was recalled to the position in 2019.

According to executive officers who worked closely with him, he became even more tyrannical.

"Gata is always bragging that he does not listen to any other person except His Excellency. When it comes to Gata, the president is ready to fire even a minister who goes against him."

Managers, who questioned why the contract with CAFCA (copper company) had not gone to tender received a nasty memo.

"All executives that were on acting capacity were removed today because they refused to be part of Gata's (CAFCA) deal." A whistleblower told Nehanda July 31, 2024.

When former minister Fortune Chasi dismissed Gata on corruption charges (2023), It was Chasi who finally got the boot from Mukuru and Gata laughed all the way back to his office.

A whistleblower has made a list of unforgivable nepotistic practices; were I to make a list of them, there would be no end to the story.

The idea was to retrench, give the favoured relative a retirement package, stay out a few months, rehire with a new package.

Sambo, referred to as a relative, was retrenched, stayed out a bit and rehired with lucrative perks as executive director, corporate services.

When the position was not confirmed by ministry, Sambo was sent packing with another retrenchment package.

Macrone Utah, a relative, a technician was elevated to executive director, Ooperations. He was an ex-Zesa employee, who had been retrenched, packaged and returned after a few months with a new package.

 Engineer Nyachowe, linked to Gata through marriage was elevated to executive director, technical services.

These are allegations brought to light by Nehanda, an organisation Gata said was desperate to blacken his name.

Nevertheless, there is no smoke without fire. The sum of all these allegations, selecting contractors without going to tender, hiring relatives, arrogance when challenged by senior executives, and the total disaster which has led to load shedding in Zimbabwe, thus destroying secure sources of power for manufacturing plants, show that Gata was a shoe that was forced on the wrong foot.

Apart from the fact that he was a stalwart Zanu-PF cadre, there is no evidence of merit or virtue in his career.