The Sunday Mail
Two Premier Services Medical Aid Society members have filed an urgent High Court application to compel the health insurer to dissolve its board at an annual general meeting this Tuesday.
Messrs Maphios Siamuchembu and Eden Mtambalika accuse the board of “mismanagement of members’ funds” and presiding over an “almost non-functional medical aid society”.
The two approached the court on Friday seeking either dissolution of the Mr Jeremiah Bvirindi-led board or the AGM’s postponement.
They want Health and Child Care Permanent Secretary, Dr Gerald Gwinji, to ensure the AGM “is conducted in a fair, transparent and credible manner” if it goes ahead.
Messrs Siamuchembu and Mtambalika are represented by Chiusti Legal Practitioners.
Part of their application reads, “(Psmas) has deliberately ignored the letter whilst continuing with preparations for the meeting so that the matter is not placed on the agenda.
“The applicants are reliably informed that the delay in responding is tactfully made to ensure that their meeting goes ahead without the item on the agenda.
“It is shocking that respondent has responded to the letter by making comments in the Press and yet has not responded to date to such an urgent matter.
“The meeting will be held on the 27th of June 2017 and it appears the respondent board is determined to remain in place unlawfully by deliberately ignoring the request for its dissolution to be placed on the agenda.”
Mr Siamuchembu’s founding affidavit reads: “Should the board continue in office, members will suffer irreparable harm due to the unavailability of services that they pay for.
“The tenure of the board has to be determined as a matter of urgency.
“I humbly ask this honourable court to take judicial notice of the fact that almost all private healthcare service providers in Zimbabwe do not accept (Psmas) medical aid card with the result that members have to pay cash from their pockets to access healthcare service.”
“Surprisingly, in these circumstances, the first respondent’s board of directors splashes hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury cars for both its management and the board chairman himself.
“It is in this background that I, and my fellow members, believe the first respondent’s current board has failed to execute its mandate and that it must leave office and pave way for more competent persons.”
Messrs Siamuchembu and Mtambalika propose that the board be replaced by former interim manager Dr Gibson Mhlanga or “somebody else of good standing for a period of 12 months, during which period, the appointee shall make arrangements for the appointment and/or election of a new board as provided for in the society’s constitution as read with applicable legislation”.
