Dube should not fall alone

Editorial Comment
PSMAS finally did the right thing, showing group CEO Cuthbert Dube the door following sensational revelations that he earned up to $230 000 a month.

THE Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) finally did the right thing on Monday by showing group chief executive office Cuthbert Dube the door following sensational revelations that he earned up to $230 000 a month.

PSMAS seemed to be dithering last week when it responded to the embarrassing news by cutting Dube’s obscene salary. Board chairperson Makeletso Nemasasu was also shown the door.

PSMAS has been in the eye of a storm following disclosures that its top management was taking home at least $1 million every month among themselves. This happened at a time when the medical society was battling with a $38 million debt that has made its registration for this year difficult.

Meanwhile, over 600 000 PSMAS members are having a tough time accessing health services because the medical aid society is not in good standing with service providers. The negative publicity that has followed the exposure of the massive salaries Dube and his executives drew every month would only work to fuel the mistrust of the PSMAS brand.

Health and Child Care minister David Pariteranyatwa reportedly held a meeting with the PSMAS board before the decision to relieve Dube and Nemasasu of their duties was taken.

This is to suggest that the government had a hand in this self-correction exercise. It is also to be expected that Zanu PF would seek to claim credit for the fall of these mega-earning executives.

However, it should never be lost in Zimbabweans’ minds that all these executives that have been looting State companies were doing so under the watch of successive Zanu PF governments.

So far only the smaller fish have been sacrificed while the real culprits that have been stealing the taxpayers’ money or using their positions in government to loot have been left untouched. The media has exposed a number of ministers and government officials whose wealth is not consumerate with their meagre salaries yet nothing has happened to them.

Last year, President Robert Mugabe revealed that he had reason to believe that there was massive corruption at the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, but no single arrest has been made so far.

So until the real plunderers and thieves in government are prosecuted and punished for their deeds, Dube’s forced retirement would be a non-event.