HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa has lifted the suspension of Zesa’s executive chairman Sydney Gata, exactly a month after he was suspended to pave way for a corruption investigation.
Chief cabinet secretary Misheck Sibanda said the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) had cleared Gata of four of the six corruption allegations made against him.
“The President, being cognisant of the fact that ZESA is at the epicentre of the economic activity of the nation and that it would not be desirable for this entity to operate below optimum efficiency due lack of leadership at its helm has directed… that the executive chairman of ZESA Sydney Gata, while investigations are ongoing, be allowed to carry on his responsibility as executive chairman,” Sibanda said in a statement on Tuesday.
Mnangagwa also lifted the suspension of the entire Zesa board which had also been suspended.
Gata was sent home after a fallout with former Energy Minister Fortune Chasi, who was eventually sacked by Mnangagwa.
Chasi’s “conduct of government business had become inconsistent with the president’s expectations,” the presidency said.
Gata was cleared of charges relating to self-allocation of vehicles for personal and family use; authorising an expenditure of Z$10 million for Christmas parties in Hwange and Kariba without board approval; installing solar equipment at his Borrowdale home with Zesa funds and setting up a Trust called ZESIT to undertake Zesa projects without necessary approvals.
Investigations are still ongoing into claims that he interfered with disciplinary processes in a case involving the company secretary of the Zimbabwe Power Company Norah Tsomondo and that he authorised the payment of ghost workers and put his private employees on Zesa’s payroll.
The corruption investigation also touched on the long delayed Intratek Gwanda solar power project, the Mutare Peaking Plant Project, and the conduct of Chasi and his dealings with Zesa Holdings.
Mnangagwa named Muzarabani North MP Soda Zhemu as Chasi’s replacement.
In August, Chasi suspended Gata over corruption allegations, but Gata hit back accusing him of abusing his power and calling him an “impediment to my efforts… to uprooting corruption at ZESA”. Gata also dismissed Chasi’s directive to other board members to investigate him, stating that “the directive is contrary to the law and cannot be acted upon.”
Mnangagwa subsequently suspended the entire board at the power utility while ordering an investigation into the allegations of wrong-doing.
Chasi was criticised for re-appointing Gata to ZESA after he previously left under a cloud of corruption allegations – but sources say the appointment was made on Mnangagwa’s directions.
Gata has been married to Mnangagwa’s niece, Angie Mayahle, since 2014 and they have two children.
