Council suspends Rufaro Marketing boss

RUFARO Marketing Private Limited, a property company owned by Harare City Council which rents out 86 former beerhalls and bars, has suspended Chief Executive Officer Mr Daniel Mutiwadirwa without salary and benefits for refusing orders to hand over copies of all lease agreements and refusing to call an extraordinary company meeting.

Rufaro Marketing was set up by the council to take over the former municipal liquor department for high density suburbs and owns and runs 86 beerhalls and other liquor outlets. When it had a liquor monopoly for the high density suburbs, it made a profit, this being used for council social services, but when that monopoly was lost, private bars provided competition it could not face and it closed down the last Rufaro liquor outlets in 2012.

However, it still owned the premises, and some of the beerhalls were large buildings in prime commercial locations. Six of the outlets were handed over rent free to retrenched employees and the other 80 were rented out to a wide range of tenants from many commercial sectors with some of the buildings being sub- divided into shops. It is the leases for these 86 buildings that the board wants to see and is being denied access.

In a letter to Mr Mutiwadirwa, board chairman Mr Obey Shava said the board had good cause for believing that the CEO had committed a serious misconduct by wilfully disobeying lawful orders in one or more ways.

“On 13 January 2023, the chairman of the Rufaro Marketing board instructed you to issue a notice to all board members to convene an extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday, 18 January 2023 at 1430 hours. Despite the written instruction, you have refused, failed or neglected to convene that meeting.

“On the same date, 13 January 2023, the chairman also requested you to furnish him with copies of the lease agreements in respect of all the Rufaro Marketing tenants and the contracts of employment in respect of all its employees by 16 January 2023.

“Despite that clear and unequivocal instruction, you refused, failed and or neglected to provide the requested documents and information.”

Mr Mutiwadirwa has also been barred from handling any company business.