ZBC boss earns more than Obama, Zuma

Editorial Comment
THE recent shocking disclosures about the salaries of former ZBC CEO Happison Muchechetere and the head of the PSMAS Cuthbert Dube bring to the fore the need for adherence to sound corporate governance

THE recent shocking disclosures about the salaries of former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) chief executive officer (CEO) Happison Muchechetere and the head of the Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) Cuthbert Dube bring to the fore the need for adherence to sound corporate governance frameworks including public disclosure.

It is interesting to note that of Dube and Muchechetere’s salaries exceed the salaries of the United States President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and South African President Jacob Zuma.

The suspended ZBC boss was reported to be earning in the region of $40 000 a month while Dube earned around $230 000 a month.

Obama — whose currency we are using to pay public fat-cats earns $400 000 per annum while Jacob Zuma earns in the region of $260 000 per year which is lower than what the former ZBC boss earned, not to mention Dube who is way above the league.

The Prime Minister of our erstwhile former colonisers David Cameron gets around £12 083 monthly which is way below what the former PSMAS and ZBC bosses were getting.

Comparatively, what Muchechetere was earning and what his counterparts in other parts of the world are getting is cause for concern as the contradictions are astoundingly alarming.

The BBC executive director for Scotland gets in the region of £185 000 which translates to less than £15 000 month per year.

The Northern Ireland BBC director earns around £145 000 per annum and oversees around 600 staff members.

Moreover, BBC has an annual turnover of around £150 million. It can be then argued that they are paying what they can afford.

However, the same cannot be said of ZBC which has reportedly been making losses for countless years, but can still afford to payout $40 000 a month to one individual and underpay the rest of the workers.

The fact that Muchechetere is actually earning more than his counterparts in the United Kingdom is shocking and such evidence demands not just an explanation, but an overhaul of public service institutions.

The salary of ZBC’s CEO is equivalent to paying 40 ZBC workers at $1 000 per month, while the monthly salary bill of PSMAS top executives (pegged at around $1 million dollars) can complete five well-equipped clinics, purchase a full complement of dialysis machines or pay l0 senior doctors $100 000 each per month.

It is a moral scandal of gigantic proportions that the beneficiaries of medical aid schemes, especially civil servants and more specifically the 600 000 members of PSMAS have struggled to access medical aid benefits while top executives continue to roll on the lap of luxury.

In contrast to the BBC, ZBC has continued to be a loss making entity in spite of having a monopoly over broadcasting, especially television for over a third of a century.

This is not about individuals such as Dube, but more about systems of corporate governance or the lack thereof, public accountability, financial probity and stewardship over scarce public funds.

One wonders what happened to the corporate governance framework which was put in place by the former Parastatals minister Gorden Moyo which proposed salary cuts for State enterprises executives.

Heather Brookes in her book The Silent State (an exposition of State excesses in the British public sector) argues that examples of good public administration include the following:  Full disclosure /clear statement of costs,  Detailed line budgets and transparent budgets.

It is the duty of boards of public enterprises and institutions to ensure that budgets of their enterprises do not legitimise obscene salaries and unjustifiable budgetary allocations at the expense of service delivery.

Line ministries should ensure that appropriate corporate good governance systems are in place, reflecting the principles of good corporate governance as outlined in Section 194 of the Constitution.

This includes “efficient and economical use of resources”.

Section 194,1b and Section 195 of the Constitution speaks to the imperative of State-controlled entities conforming to standards of corporate governance.

As ordinary citizens we have a right to know how resources that are collected from us through taxes, contributions and rates are used. We have a right to know!  Dumisani Nkomo is a political commentator and chief executive officer of the Habakkuk Trust. He writes in his personal capacity