Mandiwanzira announced to journalists in Bulawayo during a presser that the ministry will not just unearth corruption but will go all the way to make sure that the full course of justice will prevail.
Responding to a question from a Bulawayo based journalist on how he will handle the Kangai issue, the minister admitted that though there were many corrupt cases unearthed and no criminal charges laid, he will make sure that under his ministry, the clean up will be fully implemented.
'What rather worries us is why is that NetOne at December last year with 4.6million subscribers made a loss while Econet in December 2015 at about 6million subscribers made a loss while Econet made a profit, why is that today when NetOne has more than half of Econet subscribers continues to make a loss while Econet is making $200million profit. There is surely a problem.'
However he maintained that the government has only initiated the audit which the comptroller general appointed PWC to undertake and await the outcome of the process and would follow due procedure.
“We have not yet found anything amiss to instigate arrests or persecution, but if we do we are making a police report and the commissioner general will be ready to deal with the matter.
The minister said NetOne’s Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Mrs Sibusisiwe Ndlovu has red flagged some areas of concern and potentially corrupt areas and the board has prompted for an audit to clear out these areas which PWC has already started working on the matter.
“Should it be found that they are not criminally liable, then can be sued to return whatever they stole”
The minister said that we are in charge of the ministry of ICT not other parastatals, neither do we control the police force but the President of Zimbabwe has on his ten point plan spoken on the need of being profitable.
He added that police commissioner recently announced that he is ready to deal with any issues of corruption, if they come to him.
Speaking to TechnoMag on the sidelines of the presser, the minister said if Kangai is not found guilty he will come back and continue operating as CEO, as the audit suspension was only procedural.
The NetOne Chief Finance Officer MrsSibusisiwe Ndlovu pointed out some serious irregularities like
“the microwave link equipment which was bought from the $45 million loan and was commissioned less than a year ago is already being decommissioned and replaced with the same equipment for all the links from the current $218 million facility. Some of the equipment is just switched off and left on the sites despite the fact that they are still fairly new.
Bopela was unprocedurally given the contract which is believed to be installing all the new base stations and the latest revelations that proposed that some NetOne directors are shareholders with Firstel owing $11million, which prompted the board to institute an audit.
While everything seem crystal clear on ground, some sources claim the matter may have been escalated by personal differences and widened the rift between the NetOne CEO and his minister.
Technomag