Hwange Colliery divisionalisation takes shape

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Fairness Moyana Hwange Correspondent
HWANGE Colliery Company’s divisionalisation thrust has taken real shape with the medical and estates departments becoming fully stand-alone entities, which carry their own costs and obligations.

The strategic move has resulted in the departments having separate payroll services and accounts structures.

The company’s medical services manager Charles Zinyemba told Chronicle Business he was optimistic of “life away from the main company”.

He said the hospital service would grow into a world class medical facility.

“The major positive derived from the new initiative is that we’ll be able to have a fully functional medical aid arrangement given that we get the bulk of our revenue from the main company. The improved cash flow volumes will enable us to have stocking levels of sundries and be able to purchase new capital equipment like ambulances and lab equipment among other things,” said Zinyemba.

He said the move was also going to enable them to resume nurse training programme, which was suspended last year when the company grappled with debts and low cash flow.

The facility is also expected to benefit colliery employees and their dependents.

“Human resources are busy working to put up a medical aid in place and all the colliery employees and registered dependants have to do is to produce a card and get a quality service from us like before”, he added.

The medical institution is currently assisting two medical doctors a Dr Mbanje and Dr Muguto Moyana to specialise in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, a move meant to improve service delivery.

The hospital has a staff complement of 227 employees, which includes six doctors.

Meanwhile, the estates division manager Perekai Mapanga said the divisionalisation approach would bring with it improved service delivery and revenue as the estates arm sharpens its focus on maintenance and repairs of the residential and commercial areas.

“To be fully commercialised and operating as a subsidiary of the colliery should see estates generate more revenue as it should see us moving from the past scenario where most of the community members viewed our service from a corporate social responsibility angle,” he said.

“It’s initially going to be tough but we all need a mindset change where we operate with a sense of responsibility and accountability. Gone are the days when perennial debtors think it’s a right to be a colliery tenant and a right not to pay up their arrears.

“The service delivery will, however, not improve overnight as we need to recapitalise certain areas so that service delivery will be excellent for all stakeholders.”

Mapanga added that water, electricity and refuse removal rates for tenants (both Colliery and non-Colliery) will be equivalent and that no subsidies will be in place with all households within the colliery concession area being fitted with prepaid electricity meters.

The department seeks to engage a full scale civil engineer by end of this month to ensure efficient service delivery.

The estates department has a staff complement of 305 employees and 50 temporary workers.

The divisionalisation approach has been received with a lot of optimism by employees who feel the strategy will help revamp the ailing parastatal.

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