In a historic and emotional extraordinary general meeting held today, shareholders of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe voted to delist the telecommunications giant from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE).
While the resolution passed with the required majority, the true weight of the moment was captured not in the vote count, but in the subsequent emotional and passionate address by Econet’s founder and group chairman, Strive Masiyiwa.
Speaking to a hybrid gathering of shareholders in Harare, Masiyiwa delivered a keynote that was equal parts history lesson, financial rationale, and visionary promise. He took pains to emphasise that the decision, while facilitated by his majority stake, was made with the consent of the minority whom he has long considered partners in the journey.
“The shareholders have spoken – the minority shareholders have spoken,” Masiyiwa said, noting that he and his interests voluntarily abstained from voting despite being legally entitled to participate.
“There was nothing in this resolution that would have prevented us from voting. So, I just want to make that very clear.”
“We must have a right to leave”
Masiyiwa framed the delisting not as an escape from public accountability, but as a necessary correction to a market dynamic he feels has failed the company and its loyal investors.
He pointed to the stark disparity between Econet’s operational performance and its market valuation as the primary catalyst for the move.
“Look at the share price. Middle of when we made our announcement last year that the board was looking at taking this action, the shares were US$0.08 (implying US$239.4 mln market capitalisation) in a company with revenue over US$900 mln,” Masiyiwa stated incredulously. “And you say we shouldn’t intervene?”
He contrasted that dismal valuation with the company’s resilient financial recovery.
“In 2019, the revenue of our company was US$$819 mln. In 2020, it fell to US$$217 mln. That wasn’t COVID,” he explained.
The disconnect between share price and business performance, he explained, was a legacy of economic turmoil and the exodus of international investors following the 2019 crisis. He revealed that foreign shareholders, who once held 30% of the company and were key to its high valuation, had largely fled.
“Today, less than 2% of our holding is those foreign shareholders. It has taken us from 2019 to today to return to the revenue we had in 2019. In 2025, we are back at US$779 mln.”
For Masiyiwa, the stock market’s pricing mechanism had lost its utility.
“We had to do this because the stock market cannot be run without issuers… issuers have no place at the table; we have no say. But that’s for another day,” he said.
The promise to Mrs. Gatsi
The address was punctuated by a deeply personal narrative, tracing the company’s origins in 1993 when Masiyiwa approached State-owned Postal and Telecommunications Company (PTC) in 1993 and the dark days of the late 90s.
He recalled the 5-year legal battle against the PTC, the financial exhaustion, and the lawyers – Anthony Eastwood, Tawanda Nyambirai, and Harry Kantor – who stood by him.
But the most poignant moment came when Masiyiwa invoked the memory of a single, symbolic shareholder: the late Mrs. Gatsi.
“I want to come back to one important shareholder: Mrs. Gatsi, the late wife of Pastor Langton Gatsi. The day we listed, she said, ‘Strive, we hear you need money.’ She came with $16,000 of her own money – she had sold her car to support us. She said, ‘It’s for my children.'”
While some advised him to simply buy out the minorities at the depressed market price, he refused.
“I spoke to some shareholders and they said, ‘Why don’t you just delist? You are the majority shareholder.’ I said, ‘What do I do with the family of Mrs. Gatsi?
