Former chief executive officer Nancy Masiyiwa-Chamisa,
former finance director Simon Taranhike, and former acting CEOs Saston Muzenda
and Matheline Mujokoro appeared separately at the Harare Magistrates’ Court
charged with criminal abuse of office as public officers.
Muzenda was the acting chief executive between June and
November 2019 and Mujokoro between September 2013 and July 2019. Magistrate Mrs
Vongai Guwuriro granted them bail of $20 000 each.
Prosecuting, Mrs Tinashe Makiya said in 2016, Zinara
flighted a tender for the provision of security services at its premises
countrywide. A total of 24 companies, including Ex-Combatants Security and
National Eye Security Service, responded to the tender.
An evaluation team was set up after tenders were opened and
it toured all 24 companies, but the team was disbanded before the final
evaluation report was signed.
However, the team had already found Ex-Combatants and
National Eye Security failed to meet the requirements as they had neither
firearms not dogs and their premises were not presentable, according to the
State.
“After these evaluations, the Procurement Management
Committee was supposed to sit and come up with a suitable bidder but no such
committee sat to select a successful bidder.
“On April 3, 2017, contrary to his duties as the
procurement chairperson who was supposed to ensure that procedures were
followed and with intention to show favour to Ex-Combatant Security Service and
National Eye Security, Taranhike single-handedly selected the two companies and
wrote letters to them advising that they had won tenders to provide security
services to the northern and southern regions,” said Mrs Makiya.
On May 9, 2017, Masiyiwa-Chamisa signed one-year contracts
for the two security companies with a 12-months’ extension provision.
On March 1, 2018, Zinara’s administration and human
resources director wrote to the two security companies advising them that their
contracts were not to be renewed upon expiry but, said the State, Mujokoro, who
was the acting chief executive officer, extended the contracts of the two
security companies on September 7, 2018 from the date of expiry to April 30,
2019, without Zinara’s approval.
In June 2019, Modern Security and Real Star Security
companies were awarded tenders to provide services in Zinara’s northern and
southern regions starting from September 1, 2019 with the contracts for
Ex-Combatants and National Eye Security ending on August 31, 2019.
I is alleged that Muzenda, now acting CEO, had already
allowed Ex-Combatants Security to add security guards in areas that were manned
by National Eye Security, when he assumed the post of acting CEO for Zinara. In
a bid to cover his back, Muzenda allegedly wrote to the then Procurement
Regulatory Authority on September 30, seeking an extension of services from
Ex-Combatants Security.
However, the authority asked Muzenda for the contracts but
he responded saying that he had already awarded the tender to the security
company, thereby extending its service provision by 12 months.
He allegedly showed disfavour to Modern Security and Real Star
Security companies who had won the tender. Herald
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