Recently the Finance Ministry’s Permanent Secretary has been in the headlines a lot more than before. First there was the report that there was a Coronavirus scare in his family with family members forced to quarantine. Then there was the over the top celebration that followed their “recovery.” The family hired a private plane and took a very public cash splashing trip to Victoria Falls.

In Zimbabwe where the bulk of people are struggling financially overt displays of opulence by government officials is met with derision, suspicion and anger and this was no exception. Him being a high ranking official made people question his wealth in a country where corruption allegedly abounds. According to the Herald Mr Guvamatanga’s has said that he made his fortune at Barclays (now First Capital) as the company’s worker and then CEO.

I spent 30 years with Barclays Bank of which 23 of those was as senior executive and 10 years as the chief executive officer. It is known in the market that when I left I was paid a package running into millions of United States dollars.
It is also important to note that I left after having successfully put together and led a consortium of managers (at Barclays Bank Zimbabwe) that wanted to acquire the bank and had secured funding for that, although Barclays Plc opted for another buyer.