UNDER-FIRE management at the National Railways of Zimbabwe
(NRZ) has been accused of impropriety and corruption after allegedly diverting
a tender for the procurement of scrap steel to a Chinese national without
following due process.
Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Joel
Biggie Matiza at the weekend said Cabinet had passed a vote of no-confidence in
the current NRZ management led by general manager Lewis Mukwada.
Matiza said there was need for the NRZ board to install a
new management for the parastatal by September.
In 2018, the NRZ flighted a tender for the procurement of
scrap steel in the media, and 71 bidders submitted bids.
Out of the 71, the top 10 were selected and allocated 500
tonnes of scrap steel each, with information suggesting that the 5 000 tonnes
that were on offer would see the NRZ realising about US$2,5 million.
One of the bidders, Bulawayo-based businessman Daniel
Chikaka, told NewsDay Business yesterday that the NRZ management decided to
“steal” his financier in the deal, a Chinese national, whom they smuggled into
the procurement deal in return, allegedly, for kickbacks.
“The NRZ management stole my partner in the scrap steel
deal and they made money through corruption. They were paid handsomely by the
Chinese national. Some of them even boasted about the rich pickings they
realised from diverting my client and smuggling him into the procurement
arrangement which he had not even tendered for,” Chikaka said
“I brought Youngwei Guo into the scrap steel deal as my
partner because he was to finance my bid to procure scrap steel from the NRZ
and the managers at the company sweet-talked him to renege on his earlier
undertaking to partner me in the deal,” an aggrieved Chikaka said.
An agreement signed by the two parties, Bentttad Metal
Scrap Merchants and Polypackaging (Pvt) Ltd, shows they
entered into a partnership for the procurement of the scrap steel.
“We hereby by agreeing to work together, Benttad Agencies
(Pvt) Ltd (referred to as Benttad) being subcontracted by Polypackaging (Pvt)
Ltd. Benttad won the tender from NRZ for cutting and collecting scrap wagons
which amount to US$225 000 for 500
tonnes, which will be delivered to Panellink in Kelvin South, directions by
Polypackaging after payment (has been) made to NRZ by Polypackaging. All rights
and risks going to pass to (sic) Polypackaging,” the agreement reads in part.
Chikaka added that his partner, as a result of the
agreement, deposited money into the NRZ account, whose aim was to finance the
procurement of the steel.
“On December 8, 2018, Guo deposited US$225 000 into the NRZ
account which was for the steel that I, under the banner of Benttad Scrap Metal
Merchants, had acquired from the NRZ.
NRZ public relations manager Nyasha Maravanyika, in a
response, said the parastatal had followed due process in awarding the tender
to Polypackaging.
He added that from the records, the company, Polypackaging,
had been part of the tendering process, something Chikaka disputed, arguing he
single-handedly brought Guo into the picture.
“From what I have been told, Polypackaging was part of the
71 companies that bid for the scrap steel in the first place. They, however,
did not make it into the top 10 owing to a number of reasons,” Maravanyika
said.
He added: “With regard to their emergence later in the
deal, we are informed that they did enter into a partnership arrangement with
Benttad, but there were challenges with the compensation that would accrue to
either party once the deal was finalised, hence the pull-out of Polypackaging
from the deal.”
Maravanyika said NRZ took the deal to other companies that
had placed bids after Benttad failed to pay what was due to the NRZ on three
occasions.
“Benttad, I am told, was given three grace periods up to
December 12, 2018 during which it failed to pay for the scrap. That is why the
tender board decided to cancel the deal with them because they had failed to
come good on their side of the bargain. The NRZ did not choose who was to be
handed the deal because of other reasons but simply because they had the money
to pay for the scrap steel,” he said. Newsday
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