Cuthbert Dube

Dube joined the then Public Service Medical Aid in 1986 as an Internal Auditor and rose through the ranks to become assistant General Manager in 1989. He was appointed General Manager in 1992, in 2001 he would be promoted to Group Chief executive of the now Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS).^[2]

In February 2014, he sat on the following 20 boards and he was also president of Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA)

1. West End Hospital (Pvt) Ltd, Chairman
2. Claybank Private Hospital (Pvt) Ltd, Chairman
3. Shashi Private Hospital (Pvt) Ltd,Chairman
4. PSMI Clinical Laboratories, Chairman
5. PSMI Medical and Dental Clinics (Pvt) Ltd,Chairman
6. PSMI Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Ltd,Chairman
7. Healthshield Medical Services (Zambia) (Pvt) Ltd,Chairman
8. Premier Service Medical Aid Society(Zambia) (Pvt) Ltd,Chairman
9. Zimbabwe Brain Tumor Association,Chairman
10. Groombridge Residents Association,Chairman
11. Jongwe Printing and Publishing Co. (Pvt) Ltd,Chairman
12. The People’ s voice Newspaper,Chairman
13. Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation(ZBC),Chairman
14. Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA),President
15. Suburban Medical Centre,Board Member
16. Simon Muzenda Scholarship Foundation,Treasurer
17. Jairos Jiri Association (for the disabled,Patron
18. Harare Union of Journalists,Patron,
19. Confederation of African Football(CAF), Committee Member
20. FIFA, Committee Member

Controversy

Cuthbert Dube has since been retired from various boards amid revelations that 14 top executives gobbled nearly 1.1 million dollars of the total wage of 2 million dollars. Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) has a membership of 794 000 people, most of which are civil servants and uniformed forces. This development comes after it emerged he was earning a monthly salary of $230,000.00 whilst PSMAS struggles to pay service providers resulting in members mostly civil servants being forced to pay upfront for health care. It has also been revealed he owns 20% of Public Service Medical Investment (PSMI) which is the investment arm of the parastatal. These exploits would earn him the nickname "Cashbert".

Salarygate

Cuthbert Dube was paid sitting allowances by the board and for other 13 committees netting him $32 000.00 every month. These committees included those for audit benefits, constitution, procurement and finance. Reportedly PSMAS paid 18.6 million to top 14 executives some of which got school fees up to $48,000.00 was paid for annually. In 2013 Dube got $40,000.00 per week for three months for his medical treatment got free groceries, unlimited fuel, unlimited hotel stay and free medical cover every month on top of his salary. Several executives also had benefits which were slightly lower and eight of them earned no less than $60,000.00 per month As of December 31, 2013 PSMAS owed various service providers $38 million dollars. As a forced exit package Cuthbert Dube could walk away with nearly $20 million as exit package Cuthbert Dube threatened the Herald newspaper with a court order from publishing details of his salaries and allowances which amounted to $6.4 million a year.^[3]

Dube and ZIFA Mismanagement

Dube was accused of letting down Zimbabwean soccer. The national team had failed to qualify for the AFCON cup for a number of years due to his alleged poor performance and mal-administration. In January 2015, deputy minister of sports Tabetha Kanengoni-Malinga called on football stakeholders who had voted Dube into office to rescind their decision because he had failed the local game.^[4] Thus was after the ZIFA issue had spilled into parliament as it attracted cabinet attention. Malinga was responding to questions during a question- answer session in Parliament.

ZIFA Dismissal

Numerous calls were maid by sections of the media for Dube's dismissal, with the Ministry of Education Sport, Arts and Culture threatening to dissolve the whole ZIFA board. World governing body, FIFA, would step in in February 2015 and vouch their support for Dube and threaten sanctions against Zimbabwe should the government get involved in the football affairs of the nation.^[5]

In mid-May 2015, a Zifa councillors’ Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held in Harare met and decided that Dube be relieved of his duties as the head of ZIFA with immediate effect. The ruling would see board members Fungai Chihuri and Tavengwa Hara being evicted as well, while John Phiri and board member Bernard Gwarada (Finance), who were some of Dube’s vocal critics, survived the chop.^[6]

ZIFA Resignation

In early October 2015, just a day prior to a ZIFA extra-ordinary general meeting, Cuthbert Dube would hand in his resignation to the Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhosini Hlongwane via the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC).^[7] This was less than half of his new tenure (as he'd been elected in March 2014 to head the football organisation) and he went on to state in his resignation that he was to remain President of ZIFA until elections for a new President were to be held on 5 December 2015.^[7]

Lawsuit Against PSMAS

In April 2015, Dube won a $3 million arbitrary award against the embattled medical aid society PSMAS and sought to have it registered as a court order at the High Court, arguing he was still entitled to his monthly salary and benefits backdated to January 2014.^[8] The medical aid society would later appeal the court's decision, while they was a noted public outcry in regards to the award.^[9]

Losing Shareholding Stake

Dube lost 20% shareholding stake in PSMAS. This followed a meeting by the stakeholders held in May 2015.^[10]

Health Problems

On 15 December 2021, there were reports that Cuthbert Dube was critically ill. The report stated that the High Court had suspended the hearing of a case in which Dube, was accused of swindling Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) of millions of dollars. The case was suspended due to Dube's ill health

According to a judgement by Justice Joseph Mafusire, Dube was critically ill and unable to stand trial. His trial, which had been before the courts since 2017, was supposed to proceed in October 2021. Cuthbert Dube's lawyer said his client was due to travel to India for treatment in January 2022.^[11]

References