ZBC Boss Chivinge Suspended On Graft Allegations
27 July 2016
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Suspended…Chivinge

THE Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has suspended acting head of radio services Chris Chivinge, on a raft of allegations which include graft that has paralysed the public broadcaster.
Chivinge is also accused of insubordination among others and is expected to appear before a disciplinary hearing this week to answer to the charges.
Although the media could not reach Chivinge on his mobile phone, sources at the State broadcaster said management was trying to nail him over the recent arrest of acting chief executive Patrick Mavhura and acting head of finance and administration Benania Shumba.
The two were arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission for criminal abuse of office after buying 35 vehicles from a different supplier they had been authorised to purchase from by government.
“He (Chivinge) is facing a lot of charges and clearly management wants him out. Some of the charges include insubordination in that he is alleged to have absented himself from work without permission and that he failed to log in the attendance register,” a source said.
“However, all these charges might have come out as management feels he is the one who caused Mavhura’s arrest. That is the source of the fallout and everyone is waiting to see how it goes,” the source added.
ZBC was reportedly planning a major shake-up of key positions amid allegations that those perceived to be critical of Mavhura would be reassigned to less influential positions.
Chivinge’s mobile phone was not reachable yesterday.
But Mavhura said the allegations were not true and referred the media to board chairman Gibson Munyoro.
Munyoro dismissed the allegations as political grandstanding.
“Those are just political statements. There are clear written charges against him (Chivinge) and hearing processes are being done according to procedure. Some of the issues against him date back to the time even before the arrests, some even dating back to last year,” Munyoro said.
Recently, ZBC head of television programming Josephine Zulu and head of engineering Samuel Magonde were also fired on various allegations. A procurement official, one Tsatsi, who reportedly warned Mavhura against buying unsanctioned vehicles was first demoted and reassigned to Gweru before being fired.