A MOVE by National Social Security Authority (Nssa) chairperson Emmanuel Fundira (pictured) to start a fresh round of “eating” — looting — at the U$1.2 billion statutory pension fund by securing a new luxury car for himself while pensioners get peanuts has been thwarted by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).
BRENNA MATENDERE
Fundira, who is Nssa non-executive chair and thus not entitled to a car, had connived with former Public Service minister Paul Mavima to get a US$200 000 Land Rover Defender for personal use under the guise of having a car to tour the pension fund’s various projects around the country.
“Fundira has now returned the car, a Land Rover Defender. It is parked at Nssa at the moment,” a Public Service ministry official said.
“The chairman, who is non-executive, says he was given permission by Mavima to go ahead and get the car. A non-executive chairperson is not entitled to a condition of service vehicle. So this means this was an irregular or even corrupt deal.
“After that, Fundira wanted chief secretary to cabinet Misheck Sibanda to regularise the deal, but he refused. However, OPC joined the fray and ordered him to return the car. He brought it back a few days ago. It’s now in the basement.”
Mavima was close to Fundira, a hotelier, safari operator and group chief executive of privately-owned Astoc Leisure Group. When he was appointed Nssa chair in May, Fundira promised a clean-up at the corruption-ridden organisation, but he has done nothing much.
Mavima has now been removed from the ministry and appointed a minister of State in OPC responsible for skills audit. He left Nssa under a cloud of corruption involving a US$400 000 Borrowdale house scandal.
In 2015, Fundira was removed as Allied Timbers board chair amid a donation by the company to Zanu PF which never reached its intended beneficiary. Previously, he was chairperson of Allied Timbers, African Sun Limited, and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. He was president of the Safari Operators’ Association of Zimbabwe.
He has also served as director at Safari Club International and African Wildlife Consultative Forum.
The Fundira car fiasco came as Nssa has presented to the OPC its forensic audit which unearths corruption and names individuals implicated in the pension fund’s latest scandals, setting the stage for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to act.
Mnangagwa has already acted by removing Mavima from the Public Service where he was in charge of Nssa, although he then put him directly under his wings.
Nssa is a US$1.2 billion statutory pension fund.
It has 109 properties across the country. The current Nssa forensic audit was conducted by AMG Global Chartered Accountants (Zimbabwe).
It focuses on a wide scope of corruption issues, ranging from corporate governance, abuse of office and power, and self-aggrandisement at the expense of struggling poor pensioners.
The critical issues include fraudulent property deals and acquisitions, abuse of office and duty, company vehicles, foreign trips and holiday allowances.
Nssa board members last year reportedly flew to Kenya — paying themselves huge allowances — for a week-long training workshop that could have been held locally to save money, as pensioners continue to receive peanuts and wallow in untold poverty.
