By Farai D Hove| The man who early this year blew $400 million on dodgy trains which cannot move on Zimbabwe’s rails, the Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) board chair, Larry Mavima, has resigned as the parastatal’s chairman after being promoted to a Senatorial post for Shurugwi-Zvishavane; having also been appointed Minister of State for Midlands province.

The trains Emmerson Mnangagwa commissioned in February under a $400 million investment deal in Bulawayo, have not moved an inch. The locomotives Mavima bought are incompatible with Zimbabwe’s rail system. NRZ general manager Lewis Mukwada revealed saying “Out of the consignment of 10 locomotives we received, there are some that are in use. We have deployed four of those on the Harare-Bulawayo section. The challenge is that some of them are heavy and they can’t move on some of our sections.”

Other sources said, “The wagons and coaches, some of which were delivered in February, have not been used on any day. The challenge is that their thickness and weight is not compatible with the railway line used in Zimbabwe…South Africa and other countries in the region have upgraded their systems from the 45kgs on a metre specification for their rail equipment to about 54kgs per metre in terms of the weight on their railway… Our railway lines are not made to that specification.”

But Mnangagwa has promoted Mavima making him a minister.

Mavima became board chair in March 2016, replacing Engineer Alvord Mabhena who was relieved of his duties in November 2015.

Minister Mavima said in line with the Constitution of Zimbabwe, he had voluntarily resigned upon being sworn in as a Senator.

He told the state media, “I have voluntarily resigned as board chair of the National Railways of Zimbabwe. The law actually prohibits any members in the executive to hold directorship in State-owned companies so I have since resigned upon being sworn in as a Senator for Shurugwi-Zvishavane,” he said in an interview.

“I have actually handed over my responsibilities at NRZ to my deputy chairman Brigadier General William Dube until a new chairman is appointed by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development (Biggie Matiza).”

During his tenure at the helm of NRZ, Minister Mavima said the board and management did a lot of work to turnaround the strategic entity, which is about to reach financial closure for the $400 million recapitalisation deal. Last year, NRZ and the Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG)/Transnet entered into a $400 million deal to fund the parastatal’s rehabilitation project, which involves renewal of plant, equipment, rolling stock, track signalling and telecommunications infrastructure as well as information technology systems.

“We have done a lot of work in respect of recapitalisation of NRZ of which he (Brig Gen Dube) was part of. I would urge him to continue with the process that we started, which has yielded significant results for NRZ and to see that financial closure is achieved as soon as possible in as far as recapitalisation is concerned,” said Minister Mavima.

The strategic entity, which now requires about $1,9 billion in the long-term to fully recapitalise its operations, took delivery of railway equipment in February on lease terms under an interim arrangement with DIDG/Transnet while it awaits financial closure to the $400 million recapitalisation project.

Leased equipment under the interim solution comprises locomotives, wagons and passenger coaches. The equipment is meant to boost the NRZ’s capacity to move freight which had dropped drastically as result of obsolete equipment.

During its glory days in the 1990s, NRZ was moving 18 million tonnes of freight annually but the figure nose-dived to 3,1 million tonnes in 2017. In the first quarter of the year, the parastatal surpassed its revenue target of $18 million for the period by five percent on the back of the trust NRZ’s customers continue to build in the company.

Minister Mavima said his new office would work with various opportunities that exist in the mineral, agricultural, and commercial sectors to position the Midlands as the industrial power hub of Zimbabwe.