MEDIA, Information and Broadcasting Services minister Jonathan Moyo last night summarily fired the newly-appointed Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) board chairman Dennis Magaya, hardly 24 hours after his appointment.
NJABULO NCUBE DEPUTY EDITOR
Magaya (44) was appointed on Sunday as the new ZBC boss, but in a major volte face, Moyo last night showed him the door, citing his alleged complicity in a Powertel $25 million tender deal awarded to his firm.
Moyo, in justifying the dismissal of Magaya — who has vast experience in broadcasting — said in light of revelations that his consultancy with Powertel faced serious allegations that he received “inflated consultancy fees” and that he has been an undeserving beneficiary of the corruption tender procedures by the recently dissolved Powertel board, the government has no choice but to withdraw his appointment.
Moyo added that this was in line with the government zero tolerance stance on corruption.
“Of great concern to the ministry is the fact that it transpired that after he (Magaya) designed the $25 million new strategy for Powertel, the recently dissolved Powertel board proceeded to hire him as to implement his own design despite the fact that the State Procurement Board (SPB) had specifically disqualified his company from participating in the tender on the grounds that he was conflicted as the designer of the strategy which was the subject of the tender.”
Meanwhile, Fr Gibson Munyoro was last night appointed the substantive ZBC board chairman.
His place in the ZBC board has been taken by Pritchard Zhou, a retired diplomat who served in the United States and in South Africa.
