ZIMBABWE National Road Administration (Zinara) chairperson
Michael Madanha is in the eye of another storm after he allegedly handpicked a
security company owned by cronies to man tollgates across the country, ignoring
an existing bidder that won the tender after being approved by the Procurement
Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ).
Madanha, who is at the centre of a fuel scandal at Zinara,
is allegedly linked to the company named, Ex-Combatants Security Services,
whose directors include former Energy and Power Development deputy minister
Tsitsi Muzenda, former Zanu PF legislator Tranos Huruva, Thomas Mwazha, ex-Zanu
PF Glen View South 2018 primary election candidate, Steven Hurungudo and
Douglas Munangwa.
According to documents in possession of NewsDay Weekender,
two security companies, Modern Security and Real Star Security Company,
participated in the bidding process and won the tender to offer security
services at Zinara this year.
However, the Madanha-led Zinara board allegedly disregarded
the procurement process and ordered acting chief executive officer Suston
Muzenda to engage the Ex-Combatants Security Services for a one-year contract
without due process.
A highly-placed source told NewsDay Weekender that a board
resolution was done to legitimise the “criminal offence” after the security
company had already started work at the Zinara head office and all tollgates.
“A board resolution that was chaired by Madanha was done to
legitimise the offence, but it was way after the security company had started
giving its services to Zinara,” the source said.
Contacted for comment, Madanha did not deny the illegality,
but said the board had only given the company a one-year contract while
finalising the engagement of new tender winners.
“I am not part of that security company, but what I know
about that company is that it was contracted before and its contract had
expired. We only gave them a one-year extension on their contract, which
expired, but we are still to engage those who won the tender,” he said.
Madanha also denied the allegations that he is a director
in Ex-Combatants Security Services, saying he does not know any member of that
security firm or the directorship of that company.
“I do not know anyone or the directorship of the company,
but you can contact the management.
They may assist you. Some of the things are done at
management level. As you can see, I am currently at home right now and not at
work,” Madanha told NewsDay Weekender recently.
PRAZ chief executive Nyasha Chizu said although he does not
have enough information about Zinara engaging another company in place of
tender winners Modern Security and Real Star Security Company, he said if such
an incident happened, the procedure for dealing with such issues was provided
for in sections that criminalise methods of procurement could have been
violated.
“I don’t have information on that account, but section 16
of the Act forbids ministers and their deputies, permanent secretaries and
board members to issue directives on procuring entities to heads of
parastatals,” Chizu said.
“However, we do not have information on such directives. If
such procedures or incidents happened, the procedures for dealing with such
issues is provided for in the same subsection of the same provision and section
94 criminalises use of procurement methods not provided by the act.”
According to the source, Ex-Combatants Security has
deployed 50 security guards at Beitbridge Border Post alone, a place that in
the past operated with only four guards.
The move, according to the sources, was done to boost their
earnings. At the Zinara head office, it is reported there were between 16 and
25 security guards manning the station, again to increase the bill.
The source added PRAZ wrote a letter to Zinara warning them
to abide by the procurement Act, saying the move was tantamount to criminal
abuse of office.
Chizu, however, could not confirm the letter, saying he
needed to check with his office. Newsday
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