TRANSPORT and Infrastructural Development minister Joel
Biggie Matiza is entangled in a multi-million dollar Civil Aviation Authority
of Zimbabwe (Caaz) scandal after he reportedly authorised a €28 million
(US$33,3 million) deal for Spanish company Indra Sistemas (Indra) without going
to tender.
The contract, which Matiza awarded to Indra in collusion
with Caaz general manager David Chawota, is for the financing, supply and
installation of an airspace management system to facilitate air traffic movements
into and out of local airports. Zimbabwe is currently using an outmoded
airspace management system, which exposes passengers to serious air traffic
accidents.
Official documents seen by the Zimbabwe Independent this
week show that Chawota played a pivotal role in ensuring Indra was irregularly
given the deal, while Caaz officials told the Independent that the minister
authorised it after intense lobbying.
A Caaz official who lobbied for the project claimed the
deal was closed through a “special tender”. The officials are, however, unable
or unwilling to explain what that actually means.
Indra was initially awarded the tender in 2016, but the
deal was set aside after a competing Italian firm, Selex ES, won a Supreme
Court case challenging the decision on the basis that the tender did not go
through procedures specified by law.
In addition to that, Indra did not pass a critical security
vetting by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the Air Force of
Zimbabwe, as well as other security agencies. Sources in the ministry also
indicated there are concerns about a US$9 million cost escalation from the
original tender of US$18 million, raising fears the tender could have been
inflated for rent-seeking and corrupt purposes. The deal was first mooted when
the ministry was headed by Joram Gumbo, who was transferred to the Energy
portfolio in September after a cabinet reshuffle following the July general
elections.
Sources privy to the issue told the Independent that
notwithstanding the Supreme Court ruling and security concerns, Chawota
irresistibly pushed the Caaz board to authorise the deal with Matiza’s support.
“Matiza and Chawota vigorously pushed for this tender to be
given to Indra; they are now claiming that it was re-tendered, which is not
true. If it was re-tendered, when and where; why didn’t we see other interested
parties getting involved?
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“Matiza is conflicted in this case because he has been
working with Caaz as an architect designing local airports in the first place
before his appointment as a minister. Caaz must explain when the deal was
re-tendered and the circumstances. When was the re-tendering and who else was
involved in the process?” a ministry official said.
Sources said although some senior officials at the ministry
raised concerns over the deal, Matiza authorised it all the same.
Caaz board chairperson Thembinkosi Magwaliba confirmed
Matiza’s authorisation of the deal. He also said that Indra was recently granted
the tender and was now only awaiting finalisation of financial aspects before
work commences.
“I can confirm that the tender was granted to Indira
recently. We have received authority from our principals and we are now
implementing the deal,” Magwaliba said.
Asked if it was true that the board had changed its earlier
position under pressure from Matiza, in which it was opposed to the awarding of
the contract to Indira, saying that it had flouted tender procedures, Magwaliba
said: “The board consulted with the minister, as part of the larger expansion
of the Robert Mugabe International Airport project. So, we are going to
implement it under a loan facility from the China Eximbank or if that fails, we
are exploring an alternative whereby local banks will fund the project.”
Contacted for comment on the issue, Chawota claimed the
deal was re-tendered, but refused to give details. He claimed the deal was
redone under a “special tender”.
“Don’t confuse issues. What the Supreme Court said was that
we should go back and restart the process. This is what we did. There was a
special tender which was done and Indira was awarded the contract,” he said.
Chawota, who has previously been involved in corrupt Caaz
deals, also refused to give a specific date on which the tender was granted,
just saying: “What I know is that it was granted very recently.”
Matiza could not be reached for comment as he was not
answering repeated calls.
However, documents seen by the Independent suggest Chawota
has, throughout this year, been pushing for the direct engagement of Indra, not
an open and competitive tender process.
In a letter to the board dated June 1, 2018, Chawota said
the tender was awarded to Indra after it approached government and offered to
finance, fix and install the airspace management system. “The Ministry of
Transport and Infrastructural Development was approached in 2017 by Indra
Sistemas with a proposal for financing, supply and installation of air space
management systems. Indra was given the award for the supply and installation
of the system for sum of Euro 27,9 million by the State Procurement Board,” the
letter reads.
Chawota claimed and demanded in the letter that security
concerns needed to be waived in view of the urgency of the matter, which warranted
the invoking of presidential powers to go through.
“There seem to be concerns arising from members that there
were issues of governance that need to be cleared with regard to the
appointment of Indra. Management is of the understanding that due to the
urgency attached to the project, government took a position to apply
presidential powers in the supply and funding of the project, hence the
authority from the then State Procurement Board addressed to the Office of the
President and Cabinet. The authority was to proceed with the implementation,”
Matiza wrote.
The minister also stated that security fears raised by the
Air Force and the CIO security experts were purportedly overridden by President
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s re-engagement efforts, which meant government could enter
into deals with European companies.
Having finally obtained the board’s approval under
sustained pressure, Chawota immediately followed up on that with another letter
to Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Praz) CE Nyasha Chizu,
pleading for the cancellation of a formal tendering process in favour of a
direct engagement with Indra.
Chawota also wanted Praz to cancel another deal with a
South African company AME Aviation which Caaz had engaged to supply an air
traffic communications system and give it to Indra.
In the letter, dated May 2, 2018, Chawota argued that a
formal tender would cause further delays in implementing the project, adding
that this would result in it being completed by the end of this year.
“The authority (Caaz) needs to proceed without further
delay and procure a replacement air traffic management system to ensure safety
of air traffic control within Zimbabwe. The Indra implementation schedule will
result in project completion by the end of 2018,” Chawota wrote.
“There is dire need to address the communications
deficiency in the Zimbabwe airspace in order to comply with international
standards and stem out the concerns already raised by major airlines such as
South African Airways. Praz is requested to approve the authority to cancel the
contract with AME and engage Indra Sistemas for the supply of the required
equipment.”
Praz approved of the request two days later on May 4, 2018,
but requested Chawota to explain the contract valuations in the matter.
“The authority observed that the matter between Caaz and
AME was contractual, which should be resolved in terms of contractual
provisions between Caaz and the contractor. It was further observed that the
accounting officer (Chawota) was requesting direct engagement of Indra Sistemas
of Spain when in fact the contractor was authorised to engage the same on 2
November in 2017,” Chizu wrote.
“However, your submission did not clarify whether the
current request was for new requirements or increased scope. The accounting officer
is hereby directed, in terms of the PPDPA Act to clarify whether the current
request was for new requirements or increased scope and apply for contract
variation in terms of procurement regulations if the current request is for
increased scope of works.”
There are no subsequent documents to indicate whether or
not Chawota complied with the directive, although he claimed in an interview
with the Independent this week that everything was done above board.
“All I can say is that laid down procedures were followed,”
he said.
However, despite Chawota’s claims of urgency to justify
irregularly pushing for the project without following all procedures, with the
year coming to a close, there has not been any progress on the project.
Mnangagwa says his administration has “zero tolerance” to
graft, but corruption remains entrenched and rampant in government and society.
Zimbabwe Independent
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