NETONE boss Reward Kangai yesterday appealed to MPs to lobby for the government to urgently lift the $6 000 salary cap on top management of government-linked enterprises and local authorities.
MOSES MATENGA STAFF REPORTER
Kangai told the legislators during a tour of NetOne facilities in Harare that the directive could trigger a skills flight and paralyse most public institutions.
“We are unable to hold on to human capital unlike our competition,” he said.
“At one point we had an operations manager who left and joined competition and the company opened operations in Nigeria, he took 90 engineers and technicians with him.
“There were no expenses for them in training, but NetOne spent foreign currency training in countries like Germany, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
“They just took them, but did not incur any expenses because remuneration was tightly controlled and we were unable to pay and we seem to be heading back to that situation.
“If we have to take action as contemplated, we are likely to have serious problems,” Kangai added.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Last month, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa ordered public institutions to slash directors’ salaries to $6 000 for the highest paid as the government seeks to regularise salary structures.
The move followed revelations that some bosses at public institutions were earning obscene salaries as high as $500 000 per month.
Chinamasa said the cap was an interim measure and would be reviewed once a government salary audit had been completed.
Kangai said most of his staff had refused to sign contracts that bonded them to the company adding that government’s decision was also likely to cause employees to corruptly trade their company secrets to competitors.
When members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services asked Kangai if he could list ways Parliament could influence government to address the salary issue without causing a skills flight, he said: “It’s tricky because I am an affected party, but we have gone through these several times.”
Speaking after the tour, committee chairperson and Kuwadzana East MP Nelson Chamisa said his team had noted with concern the operating conditions NetOne was working under and promised to raise the issue in Parliament.
Chamisa said NetOne should not be guided by the State Procurement Board as that affected exhibition of entrepreneurship skills by management.
