NetOne struggles with US$374 million debt

By Staff reporter | 14 Apr 2019 at 16:50hrs
NetOne CEO Lazarus Muchenje
State-Owned mobile operator, NetOne, owes an external debt of US$300 million to foreign Institutions, and a local debt of US$74 million, NetOne CEO Lazarus Muchenje told the ICT Portfolio Committee on Monday.

Responding to a question by the Committee, if the Operator is a growing consent with enough assets that can support the level of debt the current debts, Muchenje said the operator didn't have enough to pay off the debts.

"The mobile network's assets were low than their liabilities and when we closed 2017 our equity was US$57million, but we expect that when we close 2018 our equity will be US$48million," he said.

This is an indication that it will be strenuous for NetOne to settle the debt, considering also the fact that profits that the operator has been making

NetOne has been under scrutiny for the wrong reasons with allegations of abuse of office by top management.

According to Supa Mandiwanzira, who is also a member of the ICT Committee, an audit report by the Auditor General exposed the rocks at NetOne and some of these issues the report addressed were mismanagement and abuse of office by top management.

"The forensic audit exposed the rocks that were at NetOne which needed to be addressed, systems that were not in place that led NetOne to lose money to unregistered companies," adding,"base stations were built in wrong places because management wanted to make sure that their friends get marked revenues from base station pace rentals,"

The government has spent half a billion dollars supporting struggling State Owned Enterprizes (SOEs) and parastatals over the last two years, as the perennial loss-making entities continued to drain public funds.

As a result, government has called out for partial privatization of some of these SOEs who have been wrecking and drowning in debt.

LATEST NEWS

PARTNER CONTENT

WhatsApp Newsletter

Follow us

Latest Headlines