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REVELATIONS of the obscene salaries and perks top management at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation was paying itself and the perilous state the public broadcaster is in shows a serious dereliction of duty bordering on the criminal. Its myriad of problems that have seen it go for over six months without paying workers belies a collapse in corporate governance that had taken root at Pockets Hill.
The entire board and executive management must shoulder the blame for the waning fortunes at ZBC where senior management has been systematically bleeding the company through grotesque salaries and allowances.
For years, ZBC has been on a downward slide with dwindling viewership and a flight of advertisers spawned by poor programming and content. That it is no longer a broadcaster of choice in a country where the majority of its citizens have turned to foreign stations that broadcast into the country via satellite is a serious indictment on those that have been entrusted with managing its affairs.
The rot at ZBC has been in the public domain for sometime now with the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services seized with untangling the mess at the public broadcaster. Already, moves are under way by Government to assume the massive ZBC debt which stands at $44 million.
This will hopefully give it breathing space to restructure and turnaround its fortunes. ZBC would have to retrench some of its bloated staff complement as part of the restructuring exercise. To return to viability, ZBC would have to retrench about 500 workers from its bloated staff of more than 1,000 most of whom are in non-core areas.
Government has already pledged to incur the retrenchment costs.
Meanwhile, the Comptroller and Auditor General is conducting a forensic audit which hopefully will lead to the crafting of a turnaround strategy.
Workers are owed more than $8 million in salary arrears and the broadcaster’s finances are in a dire state with management revealing last month that the company was generating $275,000 per month against a budget of $2,3 million of which $1,6 million was meant for workers’ salaries.
Against this background, it is staggering that the Chief Executive of ZBC, Happison Muchechetere, who is on forced leave pending the audit, was earning a salary and allowances totalling nearly $40,000 per month while workers went without pay.
We find it insensitive that Muchechetere, who was presiding over a sinking ship, had since his appointment in May 2009, drawn salaries and allowances approximated at $2,28 million to date. Muchechetere’s salary included $3,000 as entertainment allowance, a $2,500 allowance to pay his domestic workers, $3,500 housing allowance and $3,000 as a general allowance.
Apart from this, Muchechetere was also receiving unlimited access to fuel every month, five business class air tickets for him and his family to any international destination of his choice, three regional tickets and unlimited local air tickets every year.
Addressing journalists after a follow up meeting to discuss challenges faced by the broadcaster with acting ZBC chief executive Allan Chiweshe, management and workers’ representatives at Pockets Hill in Harare on Monday, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister Supa Mandiwanzira said it was shocking that management was earning that much while workers had no salaries.
“In the meeting, some of the information that came out is quite shocking. The chief executive earns $27,000 plus. Over and above that, he earns $3,000 general allowance, $3,500 housing allowance, $2,500 another allowance, $3,000 for home entertainment, unlimited business entertainment allowance, the corporation must pay off his mortgage facility, must build a durawall, build an entertainment centre at his premises and we think in the context of reducing expenses and expenditure of the organisation these things need to be looked at,” Cde Mandiwanzira said.
We concur with the Deputy Minister and find it strange that ZBC would splurge so much on an individual. That is greed of the highest order. We are glad that the interim management at ZBC has agreed to take a pay cut of 40 percent for senior managers and that of 30 and 20 percent for middle management.
We also applaud Government for pledging to come to the rescue of ZBC workers by ensuring that they are at least paid a part of their salaries before Christmas.
However, we call on authorities to put in place a governance structure that shields the public broadcaster from the kind of corruption and abuse of office that appears to have been so rampant under the current regime. We all yearn to see ZBC run as a commercially viable entity that lives within its means. We also want to see it become the broadcaster of choice in the country. That can only happen with a management that is sensitive to the needs of employees and one that has the interests of the company and nation at heart.
Online Reporter