Telecel introduces new MD, explains need for expats

L.S.M Kabweza Avatar

We received a news release from Telecel with more information on the news the Herald broke on Monday regarding the coming in of new managing director John Swaim. The release basically confirms the development but says the arrangement is an interim one and likely to last only a single year. Swaim says he’ll spend his time here looking for a new Zimbabwean leader to take as the leader at Zimbabwe’s second largest mobile operator.

Swaim also attempts in the release to explain the Telecel’s policy on expats and offers his some kind of promise that any expats coming in are doing so to impart skills to Zimbabweans and only staying temporarily for this defined mission. It’s easy to see from the release that Telecel knows there are serious issues to deal with concerning expats in their Zimbabwe operation.

One big reason he offers for the need for expats is Telecel’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange which, he says, requires the company to adhere internal controls and corporate governance rules that need specialist skills from their other global operations.

On plans for the year, Swaim says the top priority is to expand network coverage. You can read the full press release here.

10 comments

  1. Jalove

    No no no hatidi zvakadai. Isusu tikaenda kunze uko, we are never given such posts. It’s very rare. Anyway that’s telecel for u- a company that is really straggling to expand since inception. Even their quality of service is still not competitive and coverage yacho ifembera fembera. 

    1. Chief

      True you are not guaranteed telecel network outside the major towns.

  2. Guest

    Telecel ngaitipe maseriuos varikureva kuti Zimbabwe yose haina vanogona basa here. Maybe ndosaka varikusarira kuudza munhu asingazivi maitirwe ezvinhu munyika yedu. Rega tiona zvavachatiitira.

  3. moyodombo

    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.

  4. Bhinikwa

    S.A, Botswana, Namibia, UK & USA are full of Zimbabwean expats aka Diasporians, if these countries were to adopt the same disdain we have for foreigners, then zim wld be too small to house all our professionals that are out there. We have unfriendly business & professional regimes in place that just put off people with many options.                    

  5. Vusa Dube

    Why is it such an issue that the guy is an expat? Some thinking is just backward. The president and CEO of MTN is Zimbabwean, imagine is South africans were this petty. It’s fact that Zimbabwe has suffered brain drain & the telecoms sector lags behind. We need skilled managers to move the sector forward.

  6. Prosper Chikomo

    Dear Jalove, you are not given a post, you qualify for it.

    If South Africans made noise about a Zimbabwean becoming the
    MD of Cell C, S.A.’s third largest network, it would be called xenophobia, or anti-“Black
    economic empowerment”, depending on which side you are on.

    Anyway, Econet survived the past 10 years under the leadership
    of Zimbabweans. Those were Zimbabweans who stayed.

    However, most Zimbabweans I know see no future in Zimbabwe, and
    many left for the same reason.

    It’s now even worse with indigenization where people within
    1 km of where your business is should have shares in your business. I myself
    would rather base my business in the United States because of that.

    If a foreigner is happy coming to work in Zimbabwe, good for
    him.

    Cecil John Rhodes, through whose hard work gave Zimbabwe it’s
    telecommunications, rail and energy utilities, and several buildings and even
    left it many investments in his will, was a foreigner.

    Telecel was never started by Zimbabweans. It was by a
    foreign national investing in Zimbabwe, ropping in SUPER-PATRIOTIC shareholders
    like Leo Mugabe, James Makamba, Jane Mutasa etc. And we are talking the
    AAA-rated patriots here, the cream of patriotism!

    Surely if they had a problem with the new expat MD of
    Telecel, Leo Mugabe,- who is very related to President Mugabe, – and other patriotic
    shareholders would have 100%-empowered Telecel by Leo Mugabe himself becoming
    the MD, or better still, by Telecel getting some “Econet stock” (laugh).

    Strive Masiyiwa you so love, a foreigner in Nigeria, started
    Econet Wireless Nigeria, now V-mobile Nigeria.

    And then when he is CEO, some lazy people with corrupted
    minds will say “Why is he a CEO of a big Nigerian company when there are many Nigerians
    that are jobless?”

     If they have
    initiative, they will build their own companies and heck, call/title themselves
    Kings or Igwes rather than MDs in those companies if they want to.

    I love the United States, and I am not ashamed to say so. That
    a country will grow from bushes to become a world superpower in 300 years, more
    powerful than all the former imperial countries put together should serve as a
    lesson to all backward thinking Zimbabweans who just want to enjoy the fruits
    but not the labour. Foreigners, and indeed native Americans, have made the U.S.
    a global superpower that it is. Same thing with Australia.

    Despite the racism in the US, even a Zimbabwean can go to
    the US, and start some business that can make him rich, and which he can even
    appoint himself President, MD, CEO or anything he fancies.

    In the US, they won’t force you to hand over 51% of your
    business to Native Americans, widely known as Red Indians, in the name of
    so-called “empowerment”. I bet if Coca-Cola or Microsoft was indigenized in the
    context of the U.S., it would be nothing of the sort it has been, was, and
    still is.

    If you want Zimbabweans being MDs and CEOs of companies or
    appointing their own to top positions, they should start their own companies
    with their own monies.

    I have no problem if Strive Masiyiwa was to appoint himself “Lord
    Protector and Defender of the Empire” at Econet. It is his baby. I also don’t
    have a problem if he should make Douglas Mboweni, a black Zimbabwean, is its
    CEO. It’s his business.

    It’s like, if you owned 100% of a company, and you employed
    your sister in that family business, and then someone accuses you of nepotism. Heck,
    it’s your business and you hire whoever you want. Surely if it is your
    business, you employ whoever you want. It’s like some lazy, uneducated, and
    useless people say when they see a white man exclusively employ white people,
    they think its racism when he is simply employing his own family and even
    extended family.

    I suggest to some Zimbabweans who complain about this Telecel
    development to start their own business and make themselves MDs than complain
    that they are not being made MDs in companies they never started.

    Remember when Moxon wanted his relative to become the CEO of
    the enlarged Kingdom Meikles Africa Holdings Limited? Nigel Chanakira, who was
    the CEO of Kingdom was shaken when he found that having started Kingdom
    Financial Holdings himself, Moxon of Meikles now wanted to replace him with his
    (Moxon’s) white relative.

    Moxon could do whatever he want simply because the Meikles
    empire is his and he controls it. The only thing that saved Nigel Chanakira was
    that he happened to be black, and so black-empowerment outfits like the AAG
    could not stand by while he (Nigel), and I quote Supa Mandiwanzira, AAG’s then
    leader, “is humiliated”. If Nigel had money and controlled KMAL, he would have fired
    Moxon and appointed somebody else Chairman and Lord Protector of the merged
    KMAL.

    Strive Masiyiwa did just that. When there were problems  and allegations of racism at   Econet Altech after the merger of Econet
    Wirellss International and Altech of South Africa. Masiyiwa clearly said we
    want out. They even offered him US$70 million and he told them he doesn’t want
    it and he told them he can even pay them the US$70 million for their share.

    Good.

    In conclusion, if you want to be MD, do not incite
    xenophobia by demanding the position in a company you never started. Start your
    own and call yourself MD, and pay yourself so much money you will go bankrupt
    if you want. If you can start a business, build a track record better than that
    of any foreigner and be connected to those who own and control big companies
    and maybe one day you will be made MD. Otherwise we will have a situation where
    laziness will be the trademark of what a Zimbabwean is because the Zimbabwean
    will just be expecting position by default, rather than through hard work and
    merit.

  7. Tafmak3000

    This time the government is farting into the wind! They are complaining about brain drain on one end and on the other end of the same stick they are saying we have more than enough brains! Our government is schizophrenic policy wise! I personaly believe that every “Zimbabwean” racial group “deserves” a share of resources propotionate to the size of the racial group! i.e 16% of the population should have about 15%-20% not 90% – and that combined, all NATIVE racial groups should own at least 50% of the countries resources. I also have to admitt – like European countries strongly believe!!! ie France and its immigartion and citizen laws, that some people are more citizen than others because of their heritage! At the end of the day, The aim is to lift the poor out of poverty! and to regulate the wealth of the rich…. after all resources are limited – the getting rich of a few has to stop somewhere!!! USA/EUROPE is facing that reality quickly! Income disparity in the world is increasing (the gap between the rich and the poor, ie poor people are increasing in proportion while rich people are increasing in wealth as they become more exclusive). That state of affairs can not be associated with the hard work of these rich people, it’s more complex and unjust than many people care to learn! Qatar is a perfect template of a country that lifted all its native people out of poverty. So… Do i agree with what the Zim AA advocates are saying? NO not in this instance and not in this way!

    @55eda97a25a3b60bf00a370fa6836a8f:disqus You want to be careful with Your CJ Rhodes fact there pal, it wasn’t as simple as a hard working lovely foreigner doing great things for ‘his’ adopted country! The man walked in and ‘collected’ every thing that shined! So the benefits that undoubtedly the country got from said foreigner stand shamed by the disaster and strife said man left behind (just before independence).

    In Econet Nigeria’s case they did that friend!!! Masiiwa lost out partly because of his beliefs and partly because he was a foreigner. You said “That a country will grow from bushes to become a world superpower in 300 years” USA didn’t grow from just a “business” mindset! It was from war and conquest! WW1 WW2 etc, Recently Libya made them Billions! 

    DUDE, do u live in a Disney movie??? “Foreigners, and indeed native Americans, have made the U.S. a global superpower that it is. Same thing with Australia.” In both countries NATIVES where all but obliterated! case in point they remain colonized today!  In both countries Native remain completely disenfranchised! Telll me just 13 Australian Aborigines or Native Americans that have made major business advances in the last 5 years! you then say…”Despite the racism in the US, even a Zimbabwean can go to the US, and start some business that can make him rich, and which he can even appoint himself President, MD, CEO or anything he fancies.” What are you still doing here then? You just don’t prance into the states and make money while they sing spiritual kumpaya and cheer you on! That place is cut throat and unfortunately racial! British PM admitted recently that minorities have it tough in his own country! The only person who doesn’t seem to think so is you! 

    “I have no problem if Strive Masiyiwa was to appoint himself “Lord Protector and Defender of the Empire” at Econet. It is his baby.” NO its a public company, if he does that they’ll boot him out a la Steve Jobs. 

    “some lazy, uneducated, and useless people say when they see a white man exclusively employ white people, they think its racism when he is simply employing his own family and even extended family.” In some cases friend, it is! On more than one ocassion I have met people of other races who have expressed their hatred for other racial groups on the basis of just that, skin color. Racism is older than prostitution, and like it to still exists! The truth though is not everyone who hates you is racist. Trust me pal, you can’t call everyone who is disadvantaged, uneducated and lazy! lack of education has no direct co-relation with laziness! If you had to walk 20ks to go to school at the age of six you might appreciate that! Your logic on this one is like that of a typical cartoon villain!

    Public companies belong to all shareholders pal! Your Moxon example is AGAIN! from a movie. You then have the audacity to say “Moxon could do whatever he wants simply because the Meikles empire is his and he controls it.”

    Although I disagree with the AAG about expats I don’t recall anyone saying apoint me! I personal feel sorry for the white Zimbabwean, born bred and proud to be Zimbabwean who has to seat on the sidelines while he is tossed from enemy to friend and Zimbabwean, Rhodesian then Foreigner! If you where born in Zimbabwe and you are black, white, chinese or jewish — You are Zimbabwean in my books 

  8. Prosper Chikomo

    Tafmak you say I should “be careful with Your CJ Rhodes fact
    there pal, it wasn’t as simple as a hard working lovely foreigner doing great
    things for ‘his’ adopted country! The man walked in and ‘collected’ every thing
    that shined! So the benefits that undoubtedly the country got from said
    foreigner stand shamed by the disaster and strife said man left behind (just
    before independence).”

    Rhodes did far more for Zimbabwe’s development than anyone
    in history. When Rhodes came coal was everywhere lying unexploited. It burned
    and people treated those stones that burned as sacred a la Moses and the burning-bush.
    People cut down trees for energy, which is where Zimbabwe is right now with the
    power utility that Rhodes company (BSAC) started (ZESA) now destroyed. Even in cities people are cutting down trees for energy.

    You again say “In Econet Nigeria’s case they did that
    friend!!! Masiyiwa lost out partly because of his beliefs and partly because he
    was a foreigner.”

    THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE SAID ABOVE!!! YOU WILL HAVE LAZY
    AND UNEDUCATED PEOPLE WITH NO INITIATIVE NOW WANTING TO SOW WHERE THEY DID NOT
    REAP AND GIVING THEMSELVES TOP POSTS SO THEY CAN LOOT THE COMPANY EVEN.

    You also say that I said, and say “You said “That a
    country will grow from bushes to become a world superpower in 300 years”
    USA didn’t grow from just a “business” mindset! It was from war and
    conquest! WW1 WW2 etc, Recently Libya made them Billions!”

    That is totally untrue and a misconstruction of that facts,
    and what I said.

    For USA to be able to wage war, right from day one, it had
    to have the money and the means, and those monies and means were created through
    hard work and foreign support. If wars made countries rich, Zimbabwe would be
    Africa’s superpower right now, seeing that it went into resource rich DRC
    successfully delivering peace, and even dealt with the Savimbi in Angola and the Matsanga
    problem in Mozambique. But what has Zimbabwe prospered from those wars?

    Zimbabwe went into DRC with no money and came out totally devastated economically;
    even worse damage was done by DRC intervention than was done by ESAP.

    I would not rush to believe that a war is the basis for a
    country’s prosperity. I will not delve too much into American history, suffice
    to say that even Hitler had to have weapons and the money to start and fight a
    war before going into it. If Zimbabwe was to go to war right now, as it is,
    things would get really worse than the past 10 years in Zimbabwe right now. It would
    not make you more prosperous as a country. China has not had the wars you talk
    about to develop. Even Malaysia, which developed into a first world country in
    the same time Zimbabwe was independent did not have to go to war to prosper.

    People should just stop accusing USA of succeeding through
    wars. For it to have the biggest air force for example, the Wright bothers
    invented the plane in the US. Ford invented the Ford car and assembly-line production methods that
    would help the US long before the wars you talk about. Wars cost money, and a
    lot of lost skills/human capital!

    You say “DUDE, do u live in a Disney movie???
    “Foreigners, and indeed native Americans, have made the U.S. a global
    superpower that it is. Same thing with Australia.” In both countries
    NATIVES where all but obliterated! case in point they remain colonized
    today!  In both countries Native remain
    completely disenfranchised! Tell me just 13 Australian Aborigines or Native
    Americans that have made major business advances in the last 5 years!”

    Ever heard of the Seminole tribe or the Navajos? They are Native
    American tribes. The Seminole tribe actually owned Planet Hollywood at one
    time, if not still. Some of these tribes are even invested in casinos etc. and
    even have huge companies they run worth billions and hundreds of millions of
    dollars. Kind of a similar thing to what the Royal Bafokeng nation in South Africa have. I can certainly tell you that they are far better off than Zimbabwean
    tribes so many years after independence, and under black rule.

    You say “What are you still doing here then? You just don’t
    prance into the states and make money while they sing spiritual kumpaya and
    cheer you on! That place is cut throat and unfortunately racial! British PM
    admitted recently that minorities have it tough in his own country! The only
    person who doesn’t seem to think so is you!”

    I have always said it on Techzim that I have no need to explain
    or even apologize for my decisions, opinions, or anything about myself.

    Anyway, you should take things into context.

    I could even have used the example of South Africa and have
    said: – (Despite the xenophobia in South Africa, even a Zimbabwean can go to South
    Africa, and start some business that can make him rich, and which he can even appoint
    himself President, MD, CEO or anything he fancies.)

    I hope you get the drift.

    The point is simply that a foreigner should be allowed to
    come into Zimbabwe, invest, work, -doing productive work that develops the
    country – rather than for Zimbabweans to be xenophobic, filled with hatred for
    foreigners, who come here to work even legally!

    If a Zimbabwean was transferred
    from Old Mutual Zimbabwe to Old Mutual headquarters in UK to be it CEO, many
    Zimbabweans would ululate, but when a foreigner is reassigned here, people want
    to make xenophobic noises filled with jealous wrath!

    Such xenophobic sentiments I will not tolerate.

    A foreign investor also should not be forced to give up
    shares to locals. One should only give shares to those he can work with, and if he wants to.

    Personally I do not care if any government sets up policies
    that destroy the country. I think only its defence forces have the capacity to do
    something.

    As for me, what I care about is myself, and I can do something about myself. I have
    no time or even the means to even suggest alternatives or ideas to any government
    should it embark on programmes like indigenization without putting the matter
    to a national referendum

    Right now if I suggested to you that the now so-called
    NATIONAL MATABELELAND ZAMBEZI WATER PIPELINE should therefore fall in the hands
    of all tribes and communities along its path, I dare say if I was Ndebele I would
    be accused of tribalism!

    But it is the same thing people are saying the communities
    should own 51% shares etc etc. Why should it be national and not belong to
    Matabeleland since that is where it will run?

    Like I said, I am against this idea of robbing hardworking
    entrepreneurs in the name of so-called “empowerment”.  If the Chinese or the French can build the
    pipeline, then they should and it should benefit all Zimbabweans, even in
    Nyadzura.

    Otherwise ZESA should belong to the Tongas and the Hwange
    Power Station belong to the Nambyas. And every community should own 51% of every telecoms company’s
    base station’s business. And they should be invaded those base stations – the
    thinking will go

    What nonsense!

    Even Britain you talk about does not demand that 51% of all
    Zimbabwean-owned businesses in London be 51% owned by white Britons!

    You say – “I have no problem if Strive Masiyiwa was to
    appoint himself “Lord Protector and Defender of the Empire” at Econet. It is
    his baby.” NO its a public company, if he does that they’ll boot him out a
    la Steve Jobs.

    YOU ARE KIDDING YOURSELF!!! THAT IS REAL KUMBAYA RIGHT
    THERE!

    Masiyiwa has a controlling interest in Econet Wireless
    Zimbabwe. People will simply call for an extraordinary general meeting and he
    will still back himself up. A few years ago Old Mutual, with all its mighty
    finances running into billions of US dollars, once raised hell about corporate governance
    issues in Econet and wanted Masiyiwa and company dealt with, and what do you
    think happened and who do you think won?

    Masiyiwa and company won.

    Why?

    Because he has a controlling interest. Not to mention the
    popularity too. Already Masiyiwa is capable of making an offer to minorities
    and delisting Econet Wireless Zimbabwe.

    By the way, you also don’t need 51% of a company to control
    it. Control comes in many forms. Only unsophisticated politicians of simple
    minds think control totally lies in shareholding.

    And for your own information, Steve Job’s USA is not Zimbabwe.

    YOU ALSO SAY: “Trust me pal, you can’t call everyone who is
    disadvantaged, uneducated and lazy! lack of education has no direct co-relation
    with laziness! If you had to walk 20ks to go to school at the age of six you
    might appreciate that! Your logic on this one is like that of a typical cartoon
    villain!”

    PERSONALLY, I CARE NOTHING ABOUT SOMEONE BELITTLING ME, WHEN
    I DO NOT DO SO TO HIM/HER.

    I ALSO FIND IT SHALLOW, VERY SHALLOW, VERY VERY SHALLOW, BEING THE KIND OF PERSON I
    AM, FOR SOMEONE TO RESORT TO JUST GENERALIZING MY CHARACTER
    WITHOUT HAVING EVEN KNOWN ME, RATHER THAN OUT-REASONING MY OPINION.

    ON TOP OF THAT I CARE NOTHING, AND THINK VOID, ATTACKS ON MY
    ARGUMENT, ATTACKS THAT ARE VAGUE LIKE “TYPICAL CARTOON VILLAIN”

    IF YOU HAVE THE “LOGIC” THEN SHOW ME THE PROOF OF THE LOGIC THAN PRETEND TO HAVE
    SOME SUPERIOR LOGIC WHICH YOU CANNOT EXHIBIT THROUGH REASONED ARGUMENTS.

    Anyway, to answer your flawed selective interpretation of
    what you said….

    Re-read my comment and maybe this time round you will get
    the sense of what I said, and even the logic.

    I said-“It’s like, if you owned 100% of a company, and you
    employed your sister in that family business, and then someone accuses you of
    nepotism. Heck, it’s your business and you hire whoever you want. Surely if it
    is your business, you employ whoever you want. It’s like some lazy, uneducated,
    and useless people say when they see a white man exclusively employ white
    people, they think its racism when he is simply employing his own family and
    even extended family.”

    In your comment you said – “Trust me pal, you can’t call
    everyone who is disadvantaged, uneducated and lazy! lack of education has no
    direct co-relation with laziness! If you had to walk 20ks to go to school at
    the age of six you might appreciate that! Your logic on this one is like that
    of a typical cartoon villain!”

    It appears your reasoning is faulty as I myself and many
    others fail to see the logic of your comment, and really where it applies.

    I NEVER SAID IF YOU ARE DISADVANTAGED THEN YOU ARE
    UNEDUCATED, USELESS AND LAZY.

    If you walked 20ks to school like you say, then whose fault
    is that? Your parents should have lived near the school, for example. Secondly,
    your government has a bus company called ZUPCO. ZUPCO should have taken you to
    school. I know for a fact that the white man provided schools to his own,
    including access thereof, and I see no reason why a black child, 31 years after
    independence, in a black country, should walk 20ks to school? I mean, what will
    you be voting for? Thirdly, why doesn’t the school have a bus? What is the MP
    doing and what have past MPs done? And the Ministry of Education? There are many questions I can ask.

    (1)WHO DISADVANTAGED WHO (2) THAT YOU WOULD NOW WANT A “DISADVANTAGED”  OR “UN-EMPOWERED” ZIMBABWEAN TO BE THE MD OF EVERY COMPANY EVEN IF THERE IS A BETTER QUALIFIED PERSON FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY WHO CAN ADD MORE VALUE TO THE BUSINESS TO THE BENEFIT OF THE COUNTRY?

    Being disadvantaged means nothing in this world.

    If there are power cuts every day and you don’t study
    because there are power cuts, you will fail and no one will care to hire you
    with your poor grades. No one will care that your parents were hardworking but
    poor people. Whereas someone who gets himself a candle or makes himself a lamp
    can study and pass, and will have a better life than those disadvantaged people
    you talk about who will then go on to demand 51% of shares and to be CEOs of
    companies when they know nothing!

    Would you even vote for a presidential candidate that does
    not know how to count and tells you that he came from a disadvantaged background.

  9. Prosper Chikomo

    Ooops, i made an error, the line should read

    THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE SAID ABOVE!!! YOU WILL HAVE LAZY
    AND UNEDUCATED PEOPLE WITH NO INITIATIVE NOW WANTING TO *reap* WHERE THEY DID NOT
    *sow* AND GIVING THEMSELVES TOP POSTS SO THEY CAN LOOT THE COMPANY EVEN.

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