By Staff Writer
THERE was drama at number 3 Sunderland Avenue in Belvedere Monday morning after a group of stakeholders at the National Employment Council (NEC) for the Food and Allied Industries booted the General Secretary, Malini Mpango out of office.
The group made up of trade union leaders and concerned workers called it a day for the top NEC official alleging they could not put up with his corrupt tendencies any further.
The NEC is one of the country’s most lucrative organ which draws both employers and employees representatives from the Brewing, Baking, Food Processing, Milling , Sweets and Confectionary, Meat Fish and Sugar Refinery sectors.
“We have tried in vain to employ all civil means to resolve the matters at hand but he won’t take heed .He forgets that we are almost like the major shareholders to this organization.
“There are a cocktail of issues we want resolved urgently so we have decided to bring the entire business of this NEC to a halt since we have locked up the offices,” the Food Federation and Allied Workers Union of Zimbabwe (FFAWUZ) secretary general Runesu Dzimiri said in an interview with The Humanitarian Post.
He alleged that Mpango and crew had reached a point where he had become a law unto himself after personalizing the NEC and running it like his backyard tuck shop.
“Shockingly, NEC Food has sold properties worth approximately US$ 1 million without the necessary mandate from stakeholders. This unauthorized action has further eroded trust in the organization’s governance.
“In light of these grave concerns, the workers in the food industry have mandated their leadership to take the necessary step of temporarily shutting down NEC Food Offices pending investigations by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare appointed officials as well as other key government organs responsible for combatting white collar fraud. We will continue to provide updates on this matter as it unfolds,” Dzimiri alleged.
Other workers representatives present accused Mpango of diverting funds derived from the sale of properties to purchase top of the range luxurious vehicles despite him having other valuable cars.
“Imagine. He proceeds to gobble thousands on a Toyota GD6 while disrespecting the fact that both employers and workers who toiled to leave the legacy of such immovable properties did that out of sacrifice.
“Imagine, Mpango was already in possession of a Toyota Fortuner which he has since parked. What gives him the power to sell immovable properties all for the love of top of the range vehicles?,” one unidentified source alleged.
The developments come just after the amendment of the Labour Act gazette late last year with a whole section dedicated to revamping the operations of the NECs in a bid to avoid funds embezzlement.
Other stakeholders who spoke to this publication castigated Mpango and the crew running the NEC for holding endless NEC meetings as a strategy to enjoy allowances.
“So they have developed the tendency to convene endless meetings throughout the week and end up pocketing as much as US$1 000 per week just made out of Collective Bargaining meetings and at the end of that they declare a deadlock,
“Just recently they crossed their limits to the extent of chucking away investigators dispatched by the Labour Ministry to look into matters of concern,” another workers leader alleged.
The affected stakeholders also said that it had come to their attention that the term of office bearers at NEC Food lapsed on December 31, 2023 but Mpango presided over the unconstitutional extension of their stay in office.
As a result, any actions taken from January 1, 2024, onwards are legally unauthorized and in violation of the NEC Food Constitution.
“We will not leave any stone unturned until we get to the surface of this rot. No business shall be conducted here and we now await the intervention of relevant authorities like the Labour Ministry or Labour Court for the way forward. Those who embezzled funds will be dealt with accordingly,” added Dzimiri.
Efforts to get a comment from the embattled Mpango were fruitless as he sped off the premises after ejection from office.
