The Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (COTTCO) has rebranded at a time two of its senior managers face corruption charges.
The company’s managing director Pious Manamike and marketing and business development manager Maxmore Njanji, were arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) in June on corruption allegations. They were released on $100 000 bail each in July.
However, the two managers were arrested again on 16 August, together with Gokwe-Nembudziya MP Justice Mayor Wadyajena (ZANU PF), COTTCO official Fortunate Molai, and Pierpont Moncroix Director Chiedza Danha on fraud and money laundering charges involving U$5 million.
Meanwhile, as part of the rebranding, COTTCO changed its logo and board members took oaths that they will loyally serve the company and will not be involved in corrupt practices. COTTCO board chair Sifelani Jabangwe said:
We are moving away from the past where the company would be in the news for the wrong reasons.
For the first time in many years, we have managed to pay our farmers on time.
We have also managed to clear the money we owed farmers from past seasons.
The government, which is a 37% shareholder, seeks to gain 51% shareholding by end of the year.
Growing cotton is no longer a viable enterprise for some farmers who have since abandoned the crop due to uncompetitive prices.
More: NewsDay