City council flouts tender procedures

Political Editor
The City of Harare last year allegedly imported $50 000 worth of Geographical Positioning System (GPS) gadgets it bought from a South African company without going to tender as would normally be required.

The GPS gadgets are meant to locate all water meters in the city and capture them on drawings and allow council to have an inventory of all water connections and their status. The city’s deal with a South African company, Optron, has been criticised for lack of a tender and no attempt to seek exemption from Zimra for duty, which was allegedly not paid.

On Friday, the local authority’s spokesman, Mr Michael Chideme could neither deny nor confirm the development.

“For now we need to look at the matter and comment later when we have made investigations. That’s my comment,” he said.

Impeccable sources told The Herald that city council brought the 10 GPS instruments and did not apply for duty exemption.

It also emerged that the money paid to the South African company was allegedly paid through one of the city’s many bank accounts which is understood to be run by a senior executive.

This development comes hard on the heels of investigations into illegal water connections, which have exposed some officials in the departments of housing and planning which authorised and approved connections.