THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has wielded the axe on at least 11 senior managers in what sources said was part of a clean-up campaign to rid the country’s tax collector of rampant corruption.
In an internal memorandum written by Zimra head of human resources identified as Samuel Sithole, Zimra announced the 11 would no longer be part of the organisation from June 1.
“A good afternoon to you all; please be advised that with effect from 1 June 2019, the following persons will cease to be employees of the authority: The affected employees are Vitalis Chakanyuka (sector manager taxes), Cecilia Chiyangwa (head technical services) and Nikita Machinga (manager values and trade).”
Others are Farai Makumbe (technical services manager customs), Juliet Matare (technical services manager customs), Swaleen Mpofu (shift manager), Edna Mudzingwa (international affairs manager), Martin Muponda (head taxes and audits), Munyaradzi Ushamba (loss control manager) Christopher Zifudzi (regional manager taxes) and Eunice Zuze also identified as international affairs manager.
Zimra Commissioner General, Faith Mazanhi in an interview with with a local online news late Monday, confirmed the development and indicated there was nothing sinister about the move.
“It is true and the reason is that their contracts expired. If you have fixed term contracts, they come to an end. There is nothing more to it than that,” said Mazanhi.
Insiders however said fear has gripped the revenue collection arm of government amid reports the purges are likely to continue.
“There is fear and trepidation. Nobody knows if they will be here tomorrow. The Commissioner General (Faith Mazanhi) is in no nonsense mood and people are being moved from one department to another.
“Its chaos but one which is internally organised and deliberate,”.
“The fact that the contracts for these senior managers were allowed to expire shows that this is deliberate and it is clear they have been targeted for some-time now. The question is who else is on the radar and what are the reasons?”
According to its website, the authority has a dedicated loss control division that “tracks trends in levels of corruption within Zimra”.
“The review considers levels of actual corruption by tracking cases of corruption reported and investigated on Zimra staff. The authority also tracks the corruption perception index. This index shows how the public perceive the corruption levels within the authority,” the Zimra website says.
