We just got news from Telecel that the deported managing director, Aimable Mpore is now back in Zimbabwe and working at Telecel again. Mr. Mpore’s appeal to the government of Zimbabwe against the withdrawal of his work permit succeeded and he returned to work yesterday (Tuesday), after arriving back in Zimbabwe on Monday.
Mr Mpore left Zimbabwe early in February, after his work permit was withdrawn for failing to reveal some information on circumstances surrounding his expulsion by the Cote d’Ivoire government last year.
The Telecel Zimbabwe managing director said he was pleased to be back in Zimbabwe. He said he was happy to be able to announce that his return coincided with the number of Telecel Zimbabwe subscribers passing the one million subscribers mark.
“We want to continue the programme we have already started of growing the company and improving services to our customers,” he said.
He added that growing the customer base from around a quarter-of-a-million to more than a million subscribers within a matter of a few months was a remarkable achievement. Strange though he says this, as information we received from Telecel on 3 April indicated ambiguously that they were nearing 1 million.
Mr Mpore, was born of Rwandese parents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is a Canadian-Rwandan dual national. He expressed his surprise and disappointment that some people in Zimbabwe viewed a fellow African as a foreigner.
“I am surprised that certain people view a fellow African as a foreigner. This is completely contrary to moves towards regional and continental integration. There are so many Zimbabweans working in many countries in Africa. They are not seen as foreigners,” he said.
Though no names are being mentioned here, this is in obvious reference to the Jane Mutasa’s remarks last month:
“Zimbabwe is a proud nation of highly experienced and very qualified people such as engineers and accountants. On what basis does Telecel recruit foreigners and award them top positions?
Why are foreigners being paid more than local managers who have endured and suffered in this country? This is serious discrimination….
In his address to workers, Mpore indicated that his mandate was to fire existing managers. To my surprise as acting chairperson of the board, Mpore wanted to do everything in secrecy at Telecel without my knowledge.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Jane Mutasa and the Zimbabwe Affirmative Action Group (AAG) will take this development. The AAG, in February, clearly didn’t want ‘foreigners’ at Telecel, strangely describing the recruitment of foreigners as “genocidal”.
Then, the Harare province AAG President, Charles Nyachowe, said:
“We will make noise about it, if they granted him a permit. We find that unnecessary, Zimbabwe does not have a skills shortage. Telecel should sort out their shareholding hangover within a period of two years. If they don’t, we will call for the regulator to get involved”
Mr Mpore has expressed his gratitude to the authorities for restoring his work permit and allowing him to resume his work at Telecel.
Image source: http://www.daylife.com/photo/06Xe8ry6VN26F
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