Former Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who once made a headline for officially opening a bin in Rusape, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors in the troubled Air Zimbabwe.
Chinamasa, who also trended on social media as the “Minister of Whatsapp” after being appointed into the short lived Ministry of Cyber Security, Threat Detection and Mitigation pop up, takes over a board that was dissolved in August last year.
“His Excellency the President, Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, has appointed Cd Patrick Anthony Chinamasa as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Air Zimbabwe,” Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda said in a press statement.
“Cde Chinamasa, who is the ZANU PF Secretary for Finance , has served the government of Zimbabwe in several Government portfolios including that of Minister of Finance and Economic Development.
Air Zimbabwe was put under Grant Thornton Chartered Accountants after the dissolving of the Board of Directors, a move that was meant to protect the flag carrier’s assets.
The decision for a caretaker to take over came after the Finance Ministry said that the government was not feasible to extend the protection of an airline battling with a debt of over US$300 million under the Finance Act.
This came after Air Zimbabwe’s acting chief executive officer Joseph Makonise requested an extension of protection on the airline assets from July 2018 to 2020.
The then Transport Minister Joram Gumbo granted Grant Thornton Chartered Accountants to be Air Zimbabwe caretaker.
The last Board of Directors for Air Zimbabwe before dissolving was headed by Chipo Dyanda.
Other members of the dissolved board included Pathias Chironga, who was the deputy, Pascal Changunda, Lyton Shumba, Fulton Mangwanya and Dacl-Ray Rambanapasi.
