Firm accused of milking indigenous businesses

agreement with Zimpost for the conversion of the ground floor of the main Post Office building first into a furniture shop and then into a shopping mall, which is in turn leased out to various traders.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media, Information and Communication Technology last week, Clinvest managing director Mr Hemant Morar said his company entered into a lease agreement with Zimpost in 2002.
“We operated as a furniture business between 2002 and 2007 but we found that is was difficult to operate the furniture shop and we split the premises to operate as a shopping mall under a build-and-operate scheme,” he said.
Mr Morar said his company renovated and partitioned the ground floor into shops and counters.
His company was initially charged US$5 000 a month rent before this was increased to US$9 000.
Mr Morar said the obtaining rates translated to US$3,50 a square metre.
This is way below the average rates of around US$12 a square metre charged in other premises in town.
Musikavanhu representative Mr Prosper Mutseyami (MDC-T) asked how much Clinvest was collecting from its tenants and whether any of its employees had a shop in the mall.
“We are collecting around US$34 000 a month but the managing director (Douglas Zimbango) is using one of the shops and he is not paying anything while another secretary is using a counter and is paying US$100,” he said.
Uzumba representative Cde Simba Mudarikwa said the company was overcharging its tenants when they were paying sub-market rates to Zimpost.
“You say you are helping the indigenous people when you are charging them more than 500 percent of what you are paying,” said Cde Mudarikwa.
Clinvest’s lease agreement was initially supposed to last until 2017, but were informed by Zimpost that it will be terminated in September this year.