Chronicle Editor
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
A Bulawayo City Council procurement officer has allegedly been found with dirty hands and risks being prosecuted after an internal audit revealed a number of irregularities that include buying councillors’ favour in the awarding of a commercial stand lease, fraud, mendacity and general abuse of office.
Ms Joyce Sandra Moyo is alleged to have used her influence as a procurement officer to flout a number of tender regulations and also had council workers colluding for her to be eventually awarded the lease, which is portion A of Lot 3, subdivision A and B Waterworks Grant Company.
The audit reveals that after getting the lease through “murky circumstances” Ms Moyo went further to try and have her lease price reduced using her influence within the local authority.
Her escapades were, however, exposed following an anonymous letter to the local authority which detailed all the irregularities regarding the awarding of the lease. According to a council confidential report, Ms Moyo had been awarded the lease after bribing unnamed councillors, who are part of the allocation of stands and premises standing committee that failed to attach any proof of capital and assets to her application as required.
“Audit found that Ms Joyce Sandra Moyo did not pay for the purchase of service industry bays, instead, she attached to her application a date stamped receipt belonging to Ms Gertrude Moyo. She was aware that the receipt was not in her name and did not make a follow up to locate a receipt in her name, instead, she put her cellphone numbers in an attempt to authenticate that the receipt belonged to her.
“Audit found that the form belonging to Ms Joyce Sandra Moyo was accepted and shortlisted with an erasure which obliterated her initial rental bid figure which was not countersigned for.
“We additionally found out that while she did not countersign for the erasure, she did countersign for a cancellation which was showing words she had cancelled,” reads the report.
It was discovered that Ms Moyo had initially bid rentals at $35 000 but later decided to change to $65 000, which made her bid the second highest.
The highest bid was of another company that was allegedly represented by one of Ms Moyo’s friends but the company also has Ms Moyo’s cellphone number as the contact, “meaning that was a dummy bid”.
On the issue of not countersigning an erasure it was discovered that council officials had actually disqualified one application for the same reason and when asked why Ms Moyo’s form had not been disqualified they claimed that they did not consider it as a cancellation.
“Additionally, audit found that the sub-committee of Allocation of Stands and Premises interviewed and resolved to award the site to Ms Joyce Sandra Moyo without presence of and going through her application form, where they could have possibly noted the anomalies.
Audit concludes that Ms Joyce Sandra Moyo’s form was treated with favour in terms of being accepted and processed with a cancellation on rental bid which was not countersigned for. We also concluded that two committees responsible for adjudication and award of stands and premises omitted to detect that the form had an erasure and obliteration on rental which is questionable,” reads the report.
It was also claimed that Ms Moyo has been using her influence in council to get information on key tenders where in October last year she made a call to the Town Planning Department enquiring on tenders for town houses and a crèche in Romney Park.
“When asked on what plans she had for all the enquiries, she stated that she had received enquiries from a number of undisclosed people regarding the tenders as they thought they were from the Procurement Management Unit. She added that although she had explained that to the people who had enquired from her, for unknown reasons she decided to enquire from the Town Planning Department on their behalf and left her two cellphone numbers for further communication,” reads the report.
After being awarded the bid Ms Moyo then wrote to council requesting to have her rent reduced, a move that reportedly did not go down well with some council officials who then questioned how a procurement officer may fail to understand tendering procedures and use of official rates by Zimbabwean institutions.
“Bidders who request for changes after offers or awards are associated with bid rigging and reflect that the offered bid price may have been for the purpose of winning a tender and may also suggest that the bidder was so on behalf of unknown persons with the idea of using one’s office to influence the award. The examination of correspondence between Ms Moyo and Town Planning Department, audit found that Ms Joyce Sandra Moyo did bid for premises which she did not know and only requested to be shown those premises a few days before interview and a time when all visits and viewing had been closed at the closure of tenders,” reads the report.
In conclusion, the audit section recommended that Ms Moyo be dealt with in accordance with the local authority’s conditions of service and also reported to law enforcement agents for using non-authentic documents.
“The chief internal auditor explained that the fact that the procurement officer was involved in irregularities, inconsistencies and unprocedural award were red flag of fraud, using someone else’s receipt to obtain a tender form was a clear fraudulent act. He said such fraud was not only perpetrated against the city but also against the State. He advised that city policy on such cases has always been to refer the matter to the police for investigations and possible prosecution by the courts. The chief internal auditor further explained that the conditions of service are administered independently of criminal court on outcomes. It would be prudent to let the two processes proceed as recommended,” reads the report.
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