MINES minister Winston Chitando yesterday told Parliament
that he was not afraid of what would come out from the forensic audit on Hwange
Colliery Company, saying that it must proceed to its conclusion despite being
implicated as having conducted some dodgy deals in the preliminary report.
Chitando appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Mines together with the Attorney-General Prince Machaya, who was
also quizzed on the legal diligence he took before agreeing to put the mine
under reconstruction with Bekithemba Moyo as the administrator.
The Hwange Colliery mismanagement saga has had many twists
and turns, with Chitando and former Mines deputy minister Fred Moyo, mine
management, some board members, and contractors being fingered as having
contributed to bringing down the coal mining giant.
Yesterday, Chitando did not say much about the allegations
levelled against him, but said he was amenable to the forensic audit being
concluded.
“When I was the Hwange board chairperson, I never made any
decisions on my own pertaining to Hwange, and any decision which was made was
by the entire board, and all I can say is that there is need to retrieve the
minutes and supporting documents to prove that I made decisions on my own,”
Chitando said in response to a question on whether he once ordered that a
contractor with Hwange, Shepherd Tundiya of Anvil should be given a contract to
transport coal so that he could pay back $481 000 that his company owed Hwange.
Last week, Reynolds Tendai Muza, a forensic auditor and
investigator with Ralph Bomment Greenacre and Reynolds, told the committee that
Tundiya owed Hwange Colliery $481 000 for coal deliveries he was paid for in
advance. He also alleged that Chitando had pushed the board to make a
resolution that Tundiya be given more business so that he could pay back the
$481 000.
“The forensic investigator must do his work, and if there
is any amount owing he should go to his books. I do not see why he should have
any additional powers through invoking the Prevention of Corruption Act because
he (forensic auditor) already has leeway to go through the company books,” the
minister said.
Asked why Hwange Colliery was placed under reconstruction
without the supporting documents, Machaya said he was going to submit the
supporting documents and the application before a judge this week, and then all
interested parties will have 14 days to respond after the application has been
lodged.
Machaya also defended Moyo (administrator) saying that
Hwange was a private company and so Parliament had no mandate to hold the
administrator accountable.
But, Mliswa said section 299 of the Constitution stipulated
that Parliament has a right to oversee all public expenditure, hence it could
hold the administrator accountable because government had investments in Hwange
Colliery.
Meanwhile, Tundiya yesterday told the Portfolio Committee
on Mines that some MPs within the committee were trying to scuttle
investigations.
Tundiya alleged that some MPs met Hwange Colliery’s acting
board chairperson Juliana Muskwe at an undisclosed lodge after she appeared
before Parliament last week.
“There are many issues about Hwange, but I am afraid to say
them all because I do not know if I will be protected after saying it,” Tundiya
said.
“There are some MPs in this committee who actually held a meeting
with Muskwe at a lodge and unfortunately for them, they forgot some documents
there, and those documents were then leaked,” he said.
Mliswa said he was protected by the Parliamentary
Privileges Immunities and Powers Act, but Tundiya said it was very political
and was afraid to disclose the names of the MPs involved.
Tundiya then alleged that Muskwe was corrupt and that she
had given Hwange company funds ($24 100) in June just before the elections to
the Zanu PF women’s league, which was transferred to an account of a person
only identified as C Ngoma.
Tundiya further claimed that the husband of one of Hwange
Colliery’s workers representatives only identified as Kamocha stole $40 000
worth of fuel, adding that management and board members were stripping Hwange’s
assets and looting equipment.
“I cannot produce documentary evidence because the
management and board were so smart that they deleted all the records. They even
fired the IT person so that they deleted all the records before the forensic audit.
The forensic auditor that was hired, Reynolds Tendai Muza from Ralph Bomment
Greenacre and Reynolds is a liar, and he must produce documentary evidence that
I owe Hwange Colliery $450 000 and that I stole coal,” he said.
Tundiya produced documentary evidence before the committee
claiming his company was owed $202 000 by Hwange Colliery, but other invoices
showed that $98 000 was owed to Philcool, a company owned by his brother,
Wilfred Tundiya.
He denied personally abducting Hwange Colliery internal auditor
Gilbert Mudenda and company secretary Allen Masiya saying their wrangle was
personal and had nothing to do with Hwange Colliery. Newsday
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