Ray Nkosi | Former CIO boss Happyton Bonyongwe’s wife Willia has been fingered in alleged dishonest dealings at the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) where she is board chair.
Bonyongwe is accused of a litany of corruption and bad governance allegations, leaving the state tax collector in a fresh storm of dishonest dealings, local media reports.
The local Indepedent reports that concerned Zimra employees have petitioned the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) chair Job Whabira, in a damning 7 page letter in which they accusse Bonyongwe of attending many board committee meetings in order to collect board fees, dominating the committee meetings and ensuring they rubber stamp her wishes.
Reads part of the letter, “The board chair personally conducts interviews of managers of level four to exert her influence on who should be hired for that post. Note that level four is the fourth level in the management hierarchy…This is usurping the authority of line management and the chair of the human resources committee who should be consulting interview panels for lower grades,” reads the letter.
“Good corporate governance gives the chair the right to be an interview panellist for the post of chief executive officer only.”
he employees cited the interview record of the post of chief loss control manager as evidence of their claims.
But in an e-mailed response to the allegations, Bonyongwe said: “Normally, when you want to attack any organisation, you cause divisions and they tried that with this board to make it dysfunctional and they failed dismally and hence of late they started to pick on the chairperson.
“The board has demonstrated serious commitment attending almost 100% of all meetings. The Zimra board has an unpopular stand against corruption, we have zero tolerance and that tends to create enemies within and outside Zimra. Consequently all the smugglers are up against the board and the Chairman in particular, and some of them are quite powerful.
“The stance the board has been taking is costing them millions of dollars. I therefore understand where they are coming from especially as you might be aware the term of the board is about to end. You throw enough mud maybe some will stick. But the board is appointed by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, who is not unhappy with the board or its chairman.
Even the Permanent Secretary who reads all our minutes and attends all board meetings if he is around or sends a proxy in his absence has not sat either the chairman or the board down to correct us on your allegations,” she added.
Bonyongwe scoffed at the allegation that she attends many board meetings in order to collect board fees and to ensure that her wishes sail through as well as the allegation that board members fear her.
“I am glad it is Zimra employees and not board members who say this because this is actually an insult to the rest of the board members to say they cannot raise their voice against the chairman and they just rubber stamp. These are professional people with high standing in our society. If you knew the composition of the board, the skills, experience and their backgrounds then you would not be giving any substance to that allegation,” she said.
“… Only a malicious person can say all these board members are intimidated by me. We do have very frank discussions in our meetings and I win some and lose some, we are always guided by the majority. All our decisions are backed by board decisions following discussions and I have never exercised any so-called ‘chairman’s powers’.”
She justified attending committee meetings, saying it was in line with good corporate governance practices.
“Corporate governance actually allows the chairman to attend any of those meetings and I always take the liberty, especially in the past year to attend most of them, especially initially, because all the discussions are at that level and I needed to understand the organisation. These days it really depends on the agenda. But like I say it is my prerogative to attend and not to attend,” she said.
“The allegation on collecting fees is laughable to those in the know for two reasons. Firstly when the board was appointed, management made their proposals based on their survey and we reduced both retention and sitting allowances and we have never asked for an increase. Secondly the board members, particularly the chairman, attends so many meetings concerning Zimra for which no payment is received.