SHAME MAKOSHORI
THE Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) has approached banks to inject ZW$5 billion (US$40,3 million) to revamp the country’s crumbling roads, new chairperson George Manyaya said, as he undertook to “revolutionise” a network that has been grounded by mismanagement and plunder.
Manyaya took over the hot seat this January with a mandate to arrest corporate governance decay at the multibillion dollar fund that until recently, had courted national outrage due to theft and pillage.
On Monday, the Zinara boss said he was aware of the huge responsibility ahead.
However, he pleaded with frustrated citizens not to judge him and his new team based on a history that has reduced Zimbabwe’s roads to near gullies.
Delinquent former executives, who would soon be hunted down and forced to account for profligacy, milked Zinara’s coffers dry, before walking out scot-free under unclear circumstances.
Even Parliament has kept a keen eye on how their cases would be handled.
“Judge us by our deeds, not omissions and commissions of the past,” Manyaya told reporters, promising a complete clean-up of the agency.
Zinara is doubling to ZW$17 billion (US$137 million) allocations to 93 roads authorities this year to quicken reconstruction efforts, which have become crucial following seven years of extensive destruction.
