Business Reporter
A family friend told the media that Gata had been admitted to a private hospital in Harare on Monday after experiencing chest pains. He passed away late on Thursday night.
ZESA said it would issue an official statement later on Friday.
A qualified mechanical and aeronautical engineer, Gata also lectured at several universities before joining the Electricity Supply Company, the forerunner to ZESA.
He became the organisation’s first black general manager in 1981, serving until 1985. When the company was restructured and renamed ZESA, Gata was appointed CEO, a position he held from 1986 to 1991.
During that time, he spearheaded major energy infrastructure projects, including Stage One (480MW) and Stage Two (440MW) of the Hwange Power Station, as well as the development of the national 330kV high-voltage AC transmission system and key regional interconnectors.
Gata returned to the helm in 2000 and was named executive chairman in 2003, overseeing the unbundling of ZESA into several subsidiaries.
He left the utility in 2006 under a cloud of corruption allegations. In 2018, Gata took ZESA to court, demanding an additional US$10 million in severance benefits. However, before the case was concluded, he was reappointed executive chairman in November 2019.
In 2020, amid allegations of corruption, President Emmerson Mnangagwa suspended the entire ZESA board, but Gata retained his position and continued to lead the organisation.
His death comes at a pivotal moment, as the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF) has begun the process of unbundling ZESA Holdings, a major structural shift after nearly two decades of operating as a fragmented entity.
-Online
