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Council and EasiHold are yet to sign a shareholders’ agreement which contains the terms of terminating the deal.
Sources said this effectively means that the terms of terminating the deal cannot apply until the binding contract is signed.
EasiHold insists that council could not benefit from EasiPark’s operations since 2009 because the shareholders’ agreement which governs the sharing of profits is yet to be signed.
Council sources said the shareholders’ agreement was expected to be signed when EasiPark would have established all structures to effectively collect revenue.
Council stood to benefit from 60 percent of the profits while the remainder went to EasiHold.
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Once the city approves the business committee’s resolution, parking management will revert to the city with EasiHold packing its bags.
The fate of workers will then be discussed, but indications are that they will be transferred to the city to avoid labour disputes.
The joint venture was condemned by various stakeholders from the day it was conceived, but survived to this day because it had the tacit approval of city officials.
Matters came to a head when EasiHold allegedly dragged its feet over the signing of a shareholder’s agreement.
The firm refused to have its investment in the business audited, arguing that it was not part of the deal.
Council officials say they are not aware of how many parking bays are operated by EasiPark and the cost of materials brought by EasiHold.
The situation was worsened by the refusal by Mr Mike Clark of EasiHold to furnish independent auditors with information relating to the company’s investment in the business.
He recently wrote to the city’s business development manager Mr Alois Masepe refusing to provide the information.
Mr Clark said the request to allow the auditing had nothing to “do with neither the scope of services of independent auditors . . . nor any requirement of any agreement between the partners”.
He said whatever investment and costs incurred by EasiHold were outside “and beyond the books of accounts and the financial statements of Easipark Harare (Pvt) Ltd”.
He said parties should be interested in establishing whether EasiHold had fulfilled its part of the deal.
But Mr Masepe said the equipment bought by EasiHold constituted “part of EasiPark Harare’s balance sheet/asset base and is accordingly a key component of the financial statements of EasiPark Harare”.
He said such information should be made public because it the basis of the joint venture deal and helps in profit sharing.
Online Reporter