eBusiness Weekly
Martin Kadzere
THE Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA), has lost three senior executives in just one month, with head of general investments becoming the latest to leave the country’s investment promotion agency on Wednesday this week.
Stephen Charangwa joins chief investments and corporate affairs, Tino Kambasha, who departed from the company last month, several people familiar with resignations told Business Weekly.
ZIDA had not responded to questions seeking comment by the time of going to print. But sources have cited conflicting views on the “strategy and vision” to be pursued as the major reasons behind the executive departures.
“It did not just start with these three; before them, two executives had already left since the death of Doug (Munesti, the founding chief executive of the agency)… there seem to be a fallout between the senior executives and the acting CEO ( Duduzile Shinya) over strategy.
“Nothing is moving and investors are frustrated,” one person who declined to be named citing protocol issues told Business Weekly.
Munatsi, a veteran banker and business executive died in November last year in a house fire at his Penthouse on the 9th floor of the Northfields luxury apartments in Harare.
Shinya was appointed acting CEO and reports directly to President Mnangagwa.
Another person said more people have quit since the beginning of the year; two employees in the human resource department, two people in the IT, one, operations and three in the investment and corporate affairs headed by Kambasha.
“The ‘Doug strategy’ is lost and some of the executives feel wasted,” the person said.
One of the executives said; “in agencies like ZIDA, you need a shared vision which can sometime be achieved through constructive compromise, but the situation is different.”
The executive added: “It’s just back and forth; little progress has been made on licencing Special Economic Zone; general investments licensing and the Public-Private Partnerships.”
ZIDA is an investment agency responsible for promoting and facilitation of both local and foreign investment in the country.
It came up as an integration of three investment authorities, which were previously housed in different Government Ministries and Departments.
Its one of the pillars to promote ease of doing business in Zimbabwe in line with the Government’s policy of “Zimbabwe is Open for Business.”
The promulgation of the ZIDA Act, which repealed the Zimbabwe Investment Authority, the Zimbabwe Special Economic Zones Authority and the Joint Ventures Act, provides a clear, comprehensive and binding legal and regulatory framework for conducting investment activities, by both domestic and foreign investors in the country.
ZIDA operates a One Stop Investment Services Centre, which provides investment services ranging from investment analysis, company registration, tax registration and clearance, licensing, connecting to all necessary utilities, investment promotions, public relations and aftercare services.
These services were previously provided by different Government agencies.
