According to a report in the Herald today, John Swaim has been appointed to replace Aimable Mpore as Telecel Zimbabwe managing director, following failure by the later to renew his work permit. If the Herald’s sources are correct, this brings an end to Aimable Mpore’s less than pleasant stay in Zimbabwe as Telecel’s top man.
Unpleasant because the executive had troubles staying in Zimbabwe since day one. And it wasn’t just him; other expats had similar issues at the company. In 2011, before being deported, Mpore had the task of defending the need to employ expats at the mobile operator. He had to explain to parliamentary committees why they couldn’t always buy Zimbabwean services and products for the network. The latest and final stumbling block was the failure to renew his work permit last year.
Reports we received at the end of last year were that Mpore was managing the company from outside the country.
The new guy, John Swaim, is not new to Telelcel Zimbabwe. A search for him yields that he was appointed to the MD role at Telecel Zimbabwe back in 2005 but that he too had issues getting his work visas on time. Other than that there’s not much about Swaim so we’ll have to wait for a comment from Telecel that we’ve been promised.
Update: Corrected the spelling of Swaim’s name.
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I would like to sympathise with Telecel and other companies in their shoes over expats, but there are bona fide cases where cynical companies deliberately hire expats to the prejudice of suitably qualified Zimbabweans. That cynicism has now grown to the extent the authorities are aware of it and alerted by disgruntled employees whose wages suffer as result. Particularly so when they end up training the expat how the job is done and not the other way. Now that the country is trading in US$ dollars the entire country can be prejudiced as a result.
Zim laws have never been pro-expat. They are very strict on expats and their limit of stay, which should be enough to build capacity, after which you have to leave. Our labour/immigration laws are very strict on that one. If you have worked with multinational corporates and the UN, you will know what you go through to justify having an expat.
Its just wonderful!…for the local, equally skilled Zimbabwean… 🙂
Zimbabwe like other countries should embrace ex pats because they impart skills which are in short supply.The authorities must set minimum qualifications that ex-pats must possess before ex-pats are engaged.chasing dedicated professionals out of the country on flimsy petty political mileage only deprives the country of progress.like it or not Zimbabwe is out of sync with other countries in terms of technology.America has gotten to where it is with the help of migration.we are exporting our raw materials(diamond,iron etc ask mpofu for more) out of the country because we do not have the expertise to add value to our products.Let the expats come in before you know it we are laughing all the way to the bank @the moment chinese ,indians are doing that.wake up africa.
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