Muchadeyi Masunda

Educational Backround

Masunda is a UZ alumni from which he attained a Bachelor's Degree in Law(Hons).

Work History

• Managing Director of Duly's
• Chairman and founding director of the Commercial Arbitration Centre
• Acting Chairman of Zimplats Holdings Ltd
• Chairman at Old Mutual Life Assurance Company Zimbabwe Ltd
• Chairman of the Board and a Director at Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Private) Ltd
• Chairman of the Board at Meikles Limited (formerly Kingdom Meikles Africa Ltd.)
• Deputy Chairman of Zimplats Holdings Ltd
• Director of Zimplats Holdings Ltd
• Director of Bindura Nickel Corp. Ltd
• Director of Old Mutual Life Assurance Company Zimbabwe Ltd
• Non Executive Director of Kingdom Meikles Africa Ltd
• Vice president for the Southern Africa region of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA)
• Co-president of the international United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)
• Member of the United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities.

Besides being involved with the companies listed above, Masunda also sits on the boards of various private and public companies.^[2] and he is a practicing lawyer specialising in commercial arbitration. He also runs his own businesses.^[3]

In 2022, Masunda became the first Zimbabwean to be elected deputy chairperson of the International Sugar Organisation (ISO).^[4]

Controversies and Scandals

The former Mayor of Harare was caught up in several scandals especially during his tenure as the Mayor of the aforementioned city. He was once accused by his councilors of abusing his authority together with his wife by using council vehicles on their endeavors.^[5] Masunda was also the recipient of of public outrage who were fuming, arguing that Masunda had run down the city by abusing funds. Some of the residents expressed their anger through various platforms arguing that

• There is no water, roads are littered with potholes and there is no street lighting, they have failed and do not deserve another chance
• The roads are in a poor state, but instead of the council putting their energies there, they prefer to hire more people to clamp kombis and taxis
• The council says we owe them rates, this is because at first we used to pay but we stopped when we realised that nothing was changing, so we started directing our monies to more pressing issues
• He [Masunda] should go, even the councillors must go, all of them must be fired. Potholes are everywhere, garbage is uncollected and there are sewer bursts all over the place
• I stay in Mbare and the situation there is terrible. The roads are impassable and that has damaged our cars. I cannot describe those as potholes, because some of them are as deep as graves and the councillors are not doing anything
• He must go. As it is, I can hardly drink tap water and they expect me to pay rates^[6]

Masunda was also attacked by civic groups and organisations after he had made comments in public in defence of the salary of Town clerk, Tendai Mahachi who was reported to be earning usd 37 000 per month at a time when the workers of the council had been going for months without their salaries. Masunda's utterances were dismissed as irresponsible, reckless and insensitive.^[7] Representatives from organisations such as the Harare Residents Trust argued that the fact that the former mayor was defending such outrageous salaries mirrored the kind of rot that he had left at the Harare City council. Chairperson of the Elected Councillors Association of Zimbabwe, Warship Dumba also highlighted that

During his time as mayor Masunda hijacked the issue of salaries and took unilateral decisions.This issue of salaries started in 2009 during the introduction of the US dollar as the medium of currency. When we, as councillors, asked how much the Town Clerk was earning Masunda said the issue of salaries is a "minefield" and we must keep away from it^[7]

The former mayor was also investigated during his tenure as mayor after he had allocated residential stands to Old Mutual and CABS both of which he chaired at the time. The probe was necessitated by the fact that there had been a conflict of interest.The then Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Ignatius Chombo was said to have ordered the reversal of the deal. Masunda was however adamant that there was nothing wrong with the deal as all procedures had been followed despite the fact that he even had a 60 percent stake in the company that was contracted to service the stands. He was quoted as having said that

I made a full disclosure of all my interests to the city council. In addition my conduct at all material times being beyond reproach. I always recused myself from any meeting where there could be any conflict of interest, however remote that possibility may be.^[8]

Through 2011 and 2012, Muchadeyi Masunda negotiated with the Ministry of Energy and Power Development and Zimbabwe Power Company to take the Harare power station back. The station was largely idle for years due to coal shortages and maintenance problems. The plant had a capacity of 100MW, but was operating at around 45 per cent. In addition, CoH had plans to boost its power supplies by harnessing bio-gas energy and already had bio-gas plants at Crowborough and Firle Sewer Works. Biogas is a product of fermentation of organic material such as manure or sewage sludge. Firle had a capacity to produce 32 000 cubic metres of biogas an hour and, according to experts, biogas can be used as a substitute for coal in thermal power stations. ^[9]

Trivia

At one point Muchadeyi Masunda was the chairman of twelve companies and director of two.In April 2017 he was appointed to the Harare Sunshine Holdings (HSH)’s board.The main drive being to utilise his vast experience and knowledge..^[3]

References