Mugabe’s pilot to know fate

LEO MUGABE

• Air Zimbabwe adds two more London flights

• Air Zimbabwe fires top pilot

• Air Zimbabwe fires top pilot

• British Airways stops Harare-London flights

• India bans Air Zimbabwe

• Pilot killed as chopper plunges into Zambezi

• Air Zimbabwe hikes fares by 200%

• Air Zimbabwe resumes Dubai, China flights

• Air Zimbabwe posts first profits in 10 years

• Fraud charges hang over new Air Zim boss

• Air Zimbabwe resumes London flights

• Air Zim cancels London flights over debt

• Air Zimbabwe hikes fares by 500%

• Student: 'Why I tried to hijack SAA plane'

• Chinese experts examine doomed MA60

By Lebo Nkatazo

AIR Zimbabwe said on Monday that it would soon decide the fate of its top pilot who has flown President Robert Mugabe since 1980.

Earlier this month, Leo Mugabe, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on transport and communications said Captain Oscar Madombwe had been fired, but during a hearing on Monday, Air Zimbabwe board chairperson Mike Bimha said Madombwe was on leave, but his fate would be decided soon.

MPs were not convinced by Bimha’s explanations and announced that the committee had set up a four-member commission of inquiry to investigate the circumstances surrounding Madombwe’s troubles.

Bimha said after having been acting CEO for a period, Madombwe was asked to revert to his previous posting at the airline’s subsidiary National Handling Services as managing director, but he refused saying it did not offer him new challenges.

Bimha said: “Madombwe was one of the three candidates for the Air Zimbabwe CEO post that we recommended to the minister. The others were Peter Chikumba and Nkosinathi Sibanda. They were all capable of getting the job but we had to rank them. Chikumba’s advantage was his international experience having worked for Air Zimbabwe, Air Namibia and the Internationals Air Travel Agency (IATA).

“So the minister approved Chikumba and we asked Madombwe if he wanted to go back to his previous post as managing director of National Handling Services but he said having been there before, and having been to the top of the airline, the position offered him offered no challenges.”

MPs, however, said there was something amiss and they were still investigating the case.

Committee Chairman Mugabe insisted: “Akazorova munhu pabasa here, kana kuti akazoba here pabasa captain uyu, what actually happened”, to which Bimha said he was only on Air Zimbabwe’s pay.

Madombwe is a trained aircraft pilot and even flew during his tenure as acting chief executive. He is President Robert Mugabe’s favoured pilot.

Mugabe said: “We have appointed a four-member commission of enquiry. In fact the committee is not happy with the whole issue of human resources at Air Zimbabwe.

“We will need to engage the former chairman of your human resources committee Luxon Zembe to help us.”

Zembe quit the post after being transferred to the National Railways of Zimbabwe Board.
JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com