New twist to Telecel ownership saga

HARARE – The on-going Telecel ownership saga took a new twist this week when one of the shareholders, Magamba Echimurenga Housing Scheme, distanced itself from the proposed deal to dispose of the 40% stake.

Telecel is currently locked into a company ownership wrangle and the shareholders are currently fighting over the proposed disposal of the 40% stake by its board chairman James Makamba.

NewsDay reported that Magamba Echimurenga Housing Scheme chairperson Andrew Ndlovu distanced his organisation from the proposed deal.

“It is of paramount importance that the founding shareholders should have first met to decide on whether to sell any share to Brainworks Capital Management,” Ndlovu said.

“These shares should not be sold by shareholders under duress and as such we are still in a state of shock and amazement at the illegal manner things have been conducted.

“The EC shares are definitely not there to be donated or given away on rushed, uncalculated and illegitimate transactions that may lead to the continued row that continues to threaten the future of Telecel Zimbabwe’s existence. Hence the proposed $20 million is a non-event to us the fully paid-up shareholders.”

Makamba claims his firm, EC, owns a 40% stake in the mobile company and was ready to resolve the impasse.

Last month, Makamba’s business partner Jane Mutasa filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court in which she sought to bar the intended elevation of President Robert Mugabe’s nephew, Patrick Zhuwao, to the post of chief executive officer of the mobile phone operator.

Zhuwao was expected to be elevated to the top post at an extraordinary general meeting which was set for February 20 this year.

In the same urgent chamber application which was upheld by the High Court, Mutasa, through her lawyer Charles Chinyama, had also sought to bar Makamba from selling 40% of the company’s shares without her approval.