The decision came a few days after Francis Mawindi's letter to the board recommending the firing of CEO Angeline Vere, recently leaked out to the media.
The letter from Telecel Zimbabwe Board read:
"The Telecel Zimbabwe Board of Directors wishes to inform all stakeholders that a resolution has been passed for the suspension of Mr. Francis Mawindi from holding office of Telecel Zimbabwe Board Director effective the 6th of June 2019, pending final Resolution by the Shareholders in terms of the Companies Act. This is following Francis Mawindi's serious breach of the common law fiduciary duty of confidentiality and to act in the best interests of the company through communicating and misrepresenting confidential company information."
Vere was appointed CEO in 2015 to steer the ship but at that time the majority shareholder was a foreign company.
Under her watch, the mobile network operator was relegated to third from second in terms of subscriber base with its numbers dwindling ever since.
Under her watch, the mobile network operator was relegated to third from second in terms of subscriber base with its numbers dwindling ever since.
According to industry statistics, Telecel's subscriber base dipped 12,3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 whereas its competitors Econet and NetOne recorded gains of 1,9 percent and 5,2 percent respectively.
Mawindi said he was unhappy with the performance of the company.
"On my part my position is very clear and that I'm not happy with the performance of the company and I'm of the opinion that the CEO is not competent enough to lead the company and has reneged on her responsibilities to inform the board of critical and important resolutions which have a material impact on the financial position of the company including re-authorisation of annual service contracts with key vendors and awarding salary increases of 20% to employees without full board authorisation," Mawindi said.
"She has also failed to demonstrate her capacity and capability to lead by struggling to lead the charge in coming up with a turnaround plan which only materialised after the intervention of the board."
Mawindi said under normal circumstances failure to adhere to company policy and procedures on such things as salary increases for employees, contracts and purchase order approvals in accordance with the existing schedule of authorisation "leads to automatic termination since this is a serious breach."
"On my part my position is very clear and that I'm not happy with the performance of the company and I'm of the opinion that the CEO is not competent enough to lead the company and has reneged on her responsibilities to inform the board of critical and important resolutions which have a material impact on the financial position of the company including re-authorisation of annual service contracts with key vendors and awarding salary increases of 20% to employees without full board authorisation," Mawindi said.
"She has also failed to demonstrate her capacity and capability to lead by struggling to lead the charge in coming up with a turnaround plan which only materialised after the intervention of the board."
Mawindi said under normal circumstances failure to adhere to company policy and procedures on such things as salary increases for employees, contracts and purchase order approvals in accordance with the existing schedule of authorisation "leads to automatic termination since this is a serious breach."
