The former executive chairperson removed from Zimbabwe’s troubled power utility says his tenure at the helm of the company was a ”nightmare,” reports said on Friday.
Sydney Gata, who is rumoured to be related to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, had his post abolished this week when the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa), which is experiencing serious viability problems, was restructured.
Power supply is becoming ever more erratic in cash-starved Zimbabwe, a situation Zesa officials blame partly on the uncompetitive tariffs they are forced to charge by the government as well as the poor state of their power stations.
Gata told the government mouthpiece Herald newspaper that the reforms he had been told to undertake at Zesa were problematic but insisted he was proud of his work.
Zeas was controversially unbundled in 2003. It is now being restructured ”to adopt a leaner position”, according to official media.
”I am proud of what I have done. I have enjoyed the experience of managing power sector reform,” Gata said.
And he said he had long intended to resign from his post.
”I even notified [retired general Mike] Nyambuya in May last year about my intention to step down as the executive chairman,” he said.
Private media reports have speculated that Energy Minister Nyambuya and Gata have long been on a collision path over the poor state of Zesa. The reports said Nyambuya had wanted to abolish Gata’s post for some time but could not do so without the express approval of Mugabe. – Sapa-DPA