Pilots strike grounds Coltart

Newsday

By Mernat Mafirakurewa

16 September 2010

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart, missed Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting following the late cancellation of an Air Zimbabwe flight from Bulawayo to Harare because of the strike by Air Zimbabwe pilots.

Other Cabinet ministers had to make alternative arrangements to make it to the meeting.

Air Zimbabwe pilots have been on strike since Wednesday last week, leaving hundreds of travellers stranded.

Education minister Coltart, who is in the process of pushing for education reforms in Cabinet, yesterday confirmed that he was not able to attend the weekly meeting.

“Air Zimbabwe advised me quite late that my scheduled flight had been cancelled. I had to wait for a flight for the following day,” he said. In his Twitter post on Monday night, Coltart had hinted that he was not going to make it to Cabinet due to complications of his travel arrangement.

“Will now miss Cabinet tomorrow morning because Air Zimbabwe cancelled the Bulawayo to Harare flight at the last minute this evening. Nice one!!.

We have much work to do to restore excellence to what were once fine companies like Air Zim. But we will through God’s grace”.

In one of the postings, Coltart said Air Zimbabwe was in trouble as a result of years of bad policy.

Water Resource Development and Management Minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo said he had made other travel arrangements to be in time for the Cabinet meeting following the cancellation of his flight.

“I sought alternative travel means after being advised that the flight I was supposed to be on was cancelled,” he said.

The national carrier has since last week been hiring planes and pilots to ply the regional and local routes.

The industrial action is compounding Air Zimbabwe’s financial woes and denting its image.

Pilots and management have since last week been involved in marathon meetings, which until now have not yielded positive results.

Despite the ongoing strike, Air Zimbabwe has tried to keep the Harare to Bulawayo route operational, but it seems it is failing.