WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT VICTOR MAPANI AT ZESCO
By Rashid Milanzi
The Managing Director for ZESCO Limited has been on the spotlight for months on end with many wanting his head on the chopping board.
The current loadshedding impasse is what has blinded many not to pay attention to the positive strides the man has scored at ZESCO. As the English put it, “People remember the storm, not the calm” to imply that the press and the public only pay attention to the bad things and forget all the good elements one can do.
Chopping Mapani’s head at ZESCO would literally spell disaster, especially at this point, and this article is one to highlight the positive strides he has managed to achieve in only two years.
To start with, may your attention be drawn to how ZESCO used to operate before UPND got into office. There was so much political interference that saw most of the money made by ZESCO go to finance political campaigns and to finance luxurious lifestyles. ZESCO was made to borrow money which was not spent on investments but PEPs. Vehicles were abused with impunity thereby blowing the fuel cost out the roof. Ghost workers and carders on payroll, with the recent conviction of PF carder Muchemwa (America 2) as a practical example, plus many other money syphoning ventures too many to mention here.
Today ZESCO operates like a real Corporate entity though much still needs to be worked on especially changing the mindsets of men and women within the system who benefited from the rot in the past.
Upon entering office, Mapani put a stop to Personal-to-Holder vehicles for Directors and everyone else including himself. All vehicles are to be packed by 17hrs unless it’s an Operations vehicle. Directors are to come with their private vehicles to work, use the Corporate vehicle during working hours and pack it immediately after work. This act alone has saved ZESCO millions of Kwacha that used to be spent on Fuel.
ZESCO used to pay thousands of dollars for it’s Payroll system and it’s Document Management system to companies domiciled in South Africa and India respectively. It is believed that kick-backs were paid for the continued running of these contracts. However, Mapani established a team of young IT specialists, creating a department called Innovation Systems. This department created the first ever home-grown payroll system as well as the document management system thereby saving ZESCO millions of Kwacha.
The Innovation Systems department went on to create many online platforms for the management of fuel, subsistence allowances, Human resources platforms, etc., all of which where manual in nature and prone to manipulations. This has allowed for more savings, a more sustainable and green ZESCO.
Mapani ordered the closure of all Customer care outlets that were stationed at Shopping Malls Countrywide as they were gobbling huge amounts of money in rentals. His argument was that people have online platforms and the ZESCO offices in each district where they could go to for assistance. He saved Millions out of this.
These are the millions you see today that has allowed ZESCO to almost clear the US$1.2billion foreign debt left behind by PF plus many other local debts owed to companies like Maamba Collieries.
…to mention but a few credits.
Despite all this, there remains a group of people who are unhappy with Mapani because they cannot enjoy their loot anymore, and these are the cartels working tirelessly to have him removed from the top seat at ZESCO. These cartels are both UPND and PF sympathisers and want the corruption that was there before to continue today.
Mapani has acquired many enemies today because of his fight against corruption in the ZESCO system, corruption that is even sought after from some of his superiors alike.
Mapani needs Government support to fight corruption and continue transforming ZESCO into a modern functional Corporation.