MP says if you inject $10 billion into Air Zimbabwe today, they will be back asking for more money next year

Mr. Speaker, in today’s aviation, when you are flying Emirates, they will tell you that we have closed the aeroplane; you actually see the door of the aeroplane open, the pilots are chatting away but they will tell you that the door has been closed because on their computer, the door would have been closed in Qatar.  You go there and argue that but the door is open, they will tell you no, it is closed.  What they really mean is that all the people are on board, the luggage is also on board; all they are doing is wait for their time to taxi and take off.  This is the age of computers but Air Zimbabwe have to physically close the door, a woman will have to come and physically close the door then they will tell you that the door is closed and you actually see the pilots climbing into the aeroplane as if they are climbing a mountain.

Hon. Minister, Zimbabwe has educated people who can come up with good documents.  I have always said this and I will repeat it.  The problem that we have in Zimbabwe is that people have a tendency of writing CV’s where they have seven degrees.  Seven degrees do not rum an institution, it is the skill Mr. Speaker.  Our Government must have a template of how people must present their CV’s and they must have a template of how people must be interviewed.

Mr. Speaker, when you are employing somebody to run Air Zimbabwe, allow them to give you their qualifications in one sentence either they have LLB and you know what it means; I have an MBA we know what it means but the tendency is that I have a B.A from University of Zimbabwe then they list all the subjects they did on a whole page with another three pages of additional qualifications.  What you need to do when you interview people Hon. Minister is that tell us what your plan of turning around Air Zimbabwe is.  We do not want to see where you went to school, we do not want to know your classmates, we do not want to know whom you had dinner with, we do not even want to know whom you sleep with. That is your business, all what we want to know is how you are going to turn around this business.  When we interview you, we are saying – I have always said this and I will continue saying it.  We have people who are running parastatals that have failed to run their own homes.  A person who has failed to his run own home, a person who has failed to manage one woman at his house, how then do they manage 800 employees?

Mr. Speaker, we are saying that apart from your skills, tell us your personal life.  It has an implication on how you run our institution.  There are people today who are of no fixed aboard, they are given parastatals to run because he has three degrees and whatever else.  Hon. Minister, going forward, we need a proper business model for the airline and there are many of them.  Ethiopian Airlines, their business model is that wherever they are flying to and wherever they are flying from, you must pass through Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.  If you are flying from Mozambique to Kenya, you pass through Addis Ababa; it is now the hub of aviation in Africa.  Why can Zimbabwe not be a hub of aviation in this part of Africa, it can be done.

Hon. Minister, please go through the CV’s of all the people that are employed at Air Zimbabwe.  Those that are related to us, please give them a package and let them go and employ people who can run that airline properly, effectively and efficiently.  Thank you.

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