News:Mines perm sec under fire

<vote /> Mines and Mining Development secretary Professor Francis Gudyanga has been accused of nepotism and corruption after hiring Mr Mike Mabhudhu from the now dissolved Marange Resources to be chief executive officer at the newly established Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC). Francis Gudyanga and Mike Mabhudhu worked together at Marange Resources.

Professor Gudyanga chairs three parastatal boards that fall under his ministry and this has created a conflict of interest and disregard of the national code on corporate governance that bars permanent secretaries from sitting on such boards. Gudyanga chairs the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company, Mineral Exploration and Marketing Company of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe School of Mines. The boards that he is chairing should be reporting to him as the Ministry's accounting officer.

Gudyanga argued that he is chairing these boards on an interim basis.