The resignation of Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) CEO Adelaide Chikongoro has taken a new turn after a letter emerged claiming she was forced out of government by Information Minister Genevan Musire.
The letter written by Chikungoro was addressed to the Chief Secretary of the Office of the President and Cabinet dated October 10, 2023.
The letter was copied to Permanent Secretary for Information Ndavanenge Mangwana, Permanent Secretary of the Corporate Governance Unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet Allen Choruma, then Liberation Struggle Veterans Affairs Minister Christopher Mutsvangwa and ZBC Chairman Josaya Taiye.
In the letter, Chikungoro said Musoire was pressuring her to resign through perceived insults during meetings.
“In these meetings, he kept repeating that ZBC’s management and board were incompetent and had failed. He has highlighted several times his intention to sack the Board and myself. This is in addition to the reports and performance reviews by the Corporate Governance Unit that we provided to him.”
“He also accused me of not giving him the required documents and that I was non-performing. He stressed in one meeting that his intention was to give salary increases to ZBC employees and exclude management because they were non-employees. I did not understand the basis of these accusations and insults, especially since some of them were done in the presence of my subordinates.”
Chikongoro said Muswire wanted her to resign because he assumed she was related to former Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa.
He added: “Judging by his tone, I think he thinks I am somehow related to the former minister and perhaps did not reach my position through merit.” He mentioned this in many interviews. However, this is not true as you know, my relationship with former Minister Hon Mutsvangwa was professional and I only met her when I joined ZBC.
Chikungoro recently resigned after being suspended over allegations of financial mismanagement and corporate governance failures.
Efforts to get a comment from Musawyer were futile as he was not answering his cell phone. Newsday
