The Procurement Regulatory Authority Chairperson Vimbai Nyemba has said the awarding of the tender to Intratrek clearly shows the process was not done in a legal manner considering the time taken for the deal to be concluded.
Nyemba made the remarks when the State Procurement Board appeared before the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament on 12 March 2018 to provide evidence on how government tenders are awarded. The committee is chaired by Temba Mliswa, the Member of the House of Assembly for Norton constituency.
She had requested the Procurement Regulatory Authority Chief Executive Officer Nyasha Chizu to shed more light on how tenders are being awarded following a question by Hon Mliswa about to whom the State Procurement Board reported to and who the new state procurement regulating authority was now reporting to.
“The Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) did not do any due diligence when awarding Wicknell a tender considering the time taken,” Nyemba said.
In his grilling of the procurement regulatory authority, Hon Mliswa said: “When Mr Chivayo came here he said he wrote a letter to the President’s Office, are you in possession of that letter?”
When Hon Simon Chidhakwa sought confirmation to the house that the awarding of the Gwanda Solar Project to Intratrek was illegal, the Procurement Regulatory Authority CEO Nyasha Chizu confirmed that the awarding of the tender to Intratrek was illegal.
The SPB confirmed that the process was illegal. The Procurement Regulatory Authority CEO Chizu said the new board reports to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s office and the old board used to report to vice president Mnangagwa’s office.
The Mines and Energy committee demanded that the ZPC Finance Director go and get the proof of payment to Intratek. Hon. Temba Mliswa read the riot act.
ZPC failed to clarify why it failed to follow it’s own processes when awarding Intratek the tender.
Alfred Maunganidze, the ZPC Supply Chain Manager was at pains to explain why ZPC flouted due process by entertaining Chivayo after he lost the initial bid to China Jianxi. Hon. Temba Mliswa demanded an answer: “We can be on this question the whole day,” he said.