adminNokutenda Chiyangwa Herald Reporter
Former Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) board chairman Luke Akno and acting general manager David Murangari appeared in court yesterday facing charges of abuse of office after they reportedly breeched 2002 Procurement Regulations.
The complainant in the case is the State being represented by Nyasha Chizu, who is the chief executive of the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ).
The pair appeared before Harare magistrate Ms Rumbidzai Mugwagwa and were remanded to September 27 on $200 bail each.
Prosecuting, Ms Linda Gadzikwa alleged that sometime in July 2017, ZMDC received $7 million from Fidelity Printers through its then acting general manager Mr Garikayi Chimhina for the resuscitation of its subsidiary — Jena Mine Private Limited — which was facing challenges.
In August 2017, Murangari, who was part of the ZMDC board, was appointed acting general manager.
Akno who was board chairman at the time, influenced the ZMDC board to engage Thomas Mashungupa’s company, Mashungupa and Mushita Engineering Projects Private Limited to carry out the resuscitation of Jena Mine.
This was allegedly done as a favour to Mashungupa as the two were acquaintances.
On September 28, 2017, Murangari acting on the instruction of Akno invited Mashungupa to discuss the scope of the work that was to be undertaken at Jena Mine.
On October 19, 2017, a meeting was carried out by the legal, risk and audit committee and Murangari advised the committee that he was considering contracting the services of an independent contractor to address the mining challenges at Jena Mine.
After deliberations, the committee resolved that Murangari was to acquire the services of an independent contractor who was subject to an informal tender in terms of section 4(2) of the 2002 Procurement Regulations as the contract value of $168 126 fell within the informal tender threshold.
Sometime during the month of October 2017, Akno and Murangari allegedly secured the consultancy services of Mashungupa and Muhita Engineering Projects at a cost of $168 126 to carry out the resuscitation of Jena Mine without following the informal tender procedures.
On November 20, 2017, Akno allegedly ordered Jena Mine to pay $25 252 to Mashungupa and Muhita before the signing of the project management agreement contract and the resuscitation of Jena Mine began the next day.
On March 22, Murangari signed a project management agreement contract on behalf of Jena Mine with Mashungupa and Muhita when the latter had commenced work four months prior to the signing date.
Investigations through company audits revealed a breach of the Procurement Regulations, which led to the duo’s arrest.
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