AAG opposes Telecel appointment

Telecel Zimbabwe appointed US-born Swiss citizen Mr John Swaim last December to replace Rwandese and Canadian citizen Mr Aimable Mpore who left after the expiry of his two-year permit in April last year.
AAG, the vociferous black empowerment advocacy group, said foreign executives often undermined local interests.
The organisation said the appointment of a foreign managing director to replace another expatriate was tantamount to underestimating indigenous capabilities.
AAG chief executive Dr Davison Gomo urged the Government to deny Mr Swaim a work permit as that would be contrary to the spirit of indigenisation and empowerment.
“We are very concerned that Telecel Zimbabwe has demonstrably failed to understand the need to comply with the current drive towards the empowerment of the indigenous people,” he said.
Mr Swaim this week said he would hold the influential position at the firm on an interim basis pending the appointment of a Zimbabwean.
But AAG said controlling shareholders of the group should have identified a local person to assume the reins during Mr Mpore’s time.
In fact, Mr Mpore’s contract had the option of extension subject to the renewal of his two-year work permit.
“The outgoing MD was in Zimbabwe for two years and during that time, more than one person should have been prepared to take over. We cannot carry on appeasing foreigners, even on jobs that local people can do.”
AAG said Telecel needed to give a good reason for appointing foreigners to positions of influence when Zimbabwe had many capable minds.
“The underlying problem is that appointing a foreign national (once again) to the position of managing director could be construed as a vote of no confidence in the abilities and capabilities of our indigenous people,” said Dr Gomo.
“However, what is even more critical is that foreigners have a tendency of awarding major contracts to their foreign friends, leaving Zimbabweans to scramble for subcontracts that pay less.”
Dr Gomo said, based on the complaints “that we get from our members, foreign-led companies spend a lot of money unnecessarily on goods that can be sourced locally often claiming that Zimbabwean goods are inferior”.
Orascom makes the executive appointments at Telecel Zimbabwe through its subsidiary Telecel International. The Egyptian firm was last year acquired by worldwide mobile telecommunications group Vimpelcom.
Telecel international owns 60 percent of Telecel Zimbabwe.
AAG said many countries across the world protected their policy space and Zimbabwe was not asking too much in advocating the empowerment of locals.