A company awarded the controversial 30-year Pomona waste management deal in Harare may have pocketed at least US$6 million since March from government as the City of Harare has refused to pay a single cent.
In June, the City of Harare suspended the controversial
US$240 million deal between Netherlands-based company Geogenix BV which is
fronted by businessman Delish Nguwaya and the local authority.
The local authority subsequently cancelled the contract.
Last week, acting town clerk Phakamile Moyo wrote to
Geogenix Bv, reminding them that the contract had been cancelled.
“Pursuant to the agreement entered between City of Harare
and Geogenix BV, we advise that council resolved to terminate the contract in
its sitting on the 3rd of August 2022,” Moyo wrote in a correspondence dated
September 23, 2022.
Local Government minister July Moyo, who was in the
forefront of the deal, however wrote a follow-up letter on September 27, 2022
telling the local authority that the deal subsisted and was binding since it
had been given national project status.
But mayor Jacob Mafume yesterday said they would never pay
a single cent to Geogenix BV amid indications that council would have been
forced to pay US$6.4 million since March if it had not cancelled the contract.
Government says it will use Harare’s devolution funds
allocation to settle the gigantic bill.
“Our position is still the same. They cannot call
themselves an investor and expect money from the same council they are
investing in,” Mafume told The Standard yesterday.
“It’s like a slay queen giving a blesser money. It does not
work. It is against public morals, extortionate and unaffordable in the context
of Zimbabwe.
“As a council, we cannot afford it.
“This contract was null and void from the beginning.
“It is so manifestly bad that it cannot be rescued in any
shape or form whatsoever.”
According to Mafume, the local authority was being forced
to pay US$780 000 bills a month since March for waste deliveries by Geogenix BV
“We as council are not paying,” he said.
“If anyone is paying it is not within our authority, and
unfortunately I don’t superintend over the affairs of the ministry of finance.
“It is the job of Parliament to make sure that the payments
are not made.
“What I can say is that the council cannot afford, and will
not pay the US$780 000 per month they want.
“We have not authorised the use of our devolution funds to
pay for this.
“We have not budgeted as council to authorise any deduction
from our devolution funds for this project.
“The Finance ministry may be paying.”
In July, the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
filed an urgent High Court Chamber application seeking a ruling setting aside a
resolution to use the city’s devolution funds to pay Geogenix BV.
A ruling is yet to be made.
Moyo, who has been at pains defending the deal, was not
picking up his mobile phone on Friday and yesterday despite repeated efforts.
In a statement on September 27, Moyo said government would
never allow the cancellation of the tender.
“I accordingly direct in terms of section 314 of the Urban
Councils Act that council immediately rescinds the resolutions cited above
which seek to not oppose court proceedings as well as the termination of the
contract,” he said.
“The resolution is, in my view, in bad faith and not in
public interest.”
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube was not reachable yesterday
while permanent secretary George Guvamatanga was not picking up his mobile
phone.
Efforts to obtain a comment from Harare secretary for
Provincial Affairs and Devolution in the Office of the President and Cabinet
Tafadzwa Muguti were fruitless as the person who was answering his phone kept
saying he was engaged in meetings.
Nguwaya, the local representative of Geogenix BV, said The
Standard had a sinister agenda by demanding answers on Pomona.
“Why the interest in Pomona?
“There are many other issues to look at, not Pomona alone,”
Nguwaya said in a telephone interview as he sought to avoid answering
questions.
CHRA acting director Ruben Akili said the Pomona deal would
be resisted.
“As CHRA we are against that Pomona deal,” Akili said.
“The devolution funds don’t belong to the government, they
are for the residents.
“Residents should decide on how those devolution funds are
going to be used.”
Harare Residents Trust director (HRT) Precious Shumba said
the waste management deal was “totally unacceptable”.
“What the national government is doing in respect of
imposing Geogenix BV on the City of Harare, and even making decisions on
devolution funds without consulting the residents and the City of Harare is
unconstitutional, unfair, unjustified and an abuse of power,” Shumba said.
According to reports by City News Albania, Integrated
Energy B.V (IEBV) changed its name to Geogenix BV on February 13, 2021. Standard
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