Following a fall out between its two shareholders last week, Zimbabwe flyafrica (Harare International) has continued to suffer serious disruptions to its operations despite assurances that service would return to normal before the end of last week.
The airline's troubles began on Wednesday, October 28 when its Zimbabwean partner and majority shareholder, Chakanyuka Karase, surrendered its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) to the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ). CAAZ subsequently grounded the airline questioning its ability to continue providing safe, commercial services amidst a shareholders' dispute.
Though it had promised to resume normal operations by Thursday, October 29, flyafrica says it is still in talks with CAAZ with a view to relaunching normal flights by Thursday, November 5.
"Although constructive dialogue is underway with CAAZ, rather than create continued uncertainty for flyafrica Zimbabwe’s customers booked on flights over the next few days on whether flights will operate or not, the airline has taken the difficult decision to suspend all flights for this period to allow time for resolution between the airline and CAAZ," it said.
flyafrica and Karase have both accused each other of financial mismanagement.
According to court documents seen by Zimbabwe's NewsDay, while flyafrica last week accused an unspecified Karase family member of fraud and theft amounting to USD140,000, Chakanyuka Karase has since accused flyafrica Ltd directors Adrian Hamilton-Manns and Mike Bond of having externalized company funds "without anyone’s knowledge with the exception of the bank".
Karase's accusations hinge on correspondence between Hamilton-Manns and CAAZ pertaining to the settlement of outstanding aircraft movement charges using foreign-based bank accounts. In addition, Karase also claims such correspondence violated CAAZ regulations, as all communications between the authority and any locally-registered airline must be handled by an Accountable Manager.
Karase was relieved of his posts of CEO, chairman and accountable manager in a board resolution authorised by acting company secretary Mike Bond on October 27.
Karase subsequently surrendered the LCC's AOC to CAAZ the following day.
Sister carrier Namibia flyafrica (Windhoek International) has not been affected and still operates flights from Windhoek to Johannesburg Lanseria and Cape Town International, albeit using leased equipment.
