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Zvikomborero Parafini
HARARE Town Clerk, Hosea Chisango, was yesterday arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and became the latest high-profile person to be sucked into the US$9 million street and traffic lights tender scam.
He is expected in court today.
City of Harare senior officials – Never Murerwa, Jabulani Mukomazi, Denford Zhungu and Tawanda Mutenhabudo – were the first to be nabbed and have spent the last two weeks in remand prison.
Murerwa is the manager supply chain, Mukomazi is the principal buyer while Zhungu and Mutenhabudo are the principal accountant and engineering technician.
On Monday, magistrate Marewanazvo dismissed a bail application for the four council employees. The quartet initially appeared in court two weeks ago.
Zhungu and Mutenhabundo were members of the tender evaluation committee, which adjudicated on tender number COH/DOW/S.5/2024, for the refurbishment of streetlights on various roads within Harare.
Their duties involved, among other things, the evaluation of bids to see if they met the standard requirements of invitation to tender documents.
It is the State’s case that in January, the City of Harare embarked on a rehabilitation of street lighting along Harare roads in preparation for the 44th SADC summit, which will be held next month, in the capital
On March 15, an invitation to tender was published in the Government Gazette and it was listed on the Procurement Regulatory Authority portal four days later.
Eleven companies — Donax Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd, Ship Tracks (Pvt) Ltd, Furbank Trading (Pvt) Ltd, Radiation Incorporation (Pvt) Ltd, Slowgrad Engineering (Pvt) Ltd, Syvern Investments (Pvt) Ltd, Onel Electrical Engineers (Pvt) Ltd, Boltgas International (Pvt) Ltd, Stoyna Computers (Pvt) Ltd, Juluka Ennd Joint Venture (Pvt) Ltd and Exodus & Company (Pvt) Ltd — responded.
It is alleged that on March 28, Murerwa appointed the Tender Opening Committee which included Mukomazi, Zhungu and Mutenhabundo.
On April 19, the committee sat and awarded Syvern Investments, Exodus and Company, Ship Tracks and Onel Engineering the tender to rehabilitate eight of the ten lots.
No company was awarded more than two lots.
It is alleged that Juluka Ennd Joint Venture, a company in which businessman Moses Mpofu has majority shareholding, was disqualified after falling to meet the tender requirements.
However, the quartet, working in connivance, proceeded to unprocedurally award the tender of the remaining two lots to Juluka, disregarding the dictates of the general procurement provisions which requires the procurement to be done through a competitive bidding process.
This was contrary to the standard bidding document condition which provided that bidders who had bad records in execution of City of Harare works wer
It is alleged that Mpofu also owns Synlak (Pvt) Ltd, a company which had in 2019 been awarded a tender for a biogas digester, and had failed to deliver.
Acting upon the recommendations, the City of Harare entered into Juluka and made an advance payment of US$9 244 328.
Online Reporter