Ziscosteel CEO retires

Michael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent

ZISCOSTEEL chief executive officer, Mr Alois Gowo, has retired from the now defunct parastatal after serving the company for 35 years. 

Zisco acting board chair, Dr Gift Mugano, confirmed the retirement of the long serving official and revealed that works executive manager, Mr Elphas Mahachi, will be acting CEO.

“When we joined in 2019, Mr Gowo had tendered his resignation but we begged him to stay until the end of the year, which he did. We want to thank him for the time he served at the company and wish him well in his future endeavours,” said Dr Mugano.

In an interview, Mr Gowo said he was now a full-time farmer. “Yes, I left the company in December last year, I now have nothing to do with the company, I can no longer comment on behalf of the company. I am now into full time farming at my farm in Zvimba and we see how it goes. I have done enough and it’s now time for me to rest,” he said.

Mr Gowo, however, expressed disappointment over the failure to ensure the revival of the steel giant.

“My disappointment is that I have left before Ziscosteel was back in production. I so wished to see the company and to play a part in its resuscitation. However, my wish is to see the company being brought back into production without further delays and that this should be in tandem with the recapitalisation of Hwange Colliery, NRZ and Zesa,” he said.

Mr Gowo joined the company in 1984 as an assistant civil engineer before being promoted to plant civil engineer. He then rose through the ranks to become divisional manager civil engineer, then project and development manager before being appointed acting CEO in 2006.

He was appointed substantive CEO in 2008, a time when the company began facing serious operational challenges. His tenure was never short of controversy following allegations of looting of company resources after its closure.