{"id":96076,"date":"2024-07-03T12:05:55","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T10:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chivayo-deal-citizen-blindsides-zec-with-lawsuit"},"modified":"2024-07-03T14:20:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T12:20:04","slug":"chivayo-deal-citizen-blindsides-zec-with-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chivayo-deal-citizen-blindsides-zec-with-lawsuit","title":{"rendered":"Chivayo deal: Citizen blindsides Zec with lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) faces court action over a murky US$40 million tender it awarded to Zanu PF-linked businessmen for the procurement of electoral material for the disputed August 2023 election.<\/p>\n

Convicted fraudster and controversial tenderpreneur Wicknell Chivayo was heard in leaked audios confirming reports that they got a US$40 million tender from Zec to supply electoral materials.<\/p>\n

Chivayo, in partnership Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu, through Betterbrands Security (Pvt) Ltd, entered into an agreement with South African firm Ren-Form CC on February 13, 2023 to participate in Zimbabwe electoral tenders.<\/p>\n

Betterbrands is owned by Mabvuku MP Pedzisayi \u201cScott\u201d Sakupwanya (Zanu PF).<\/p>\n

A private citizen, Tapiwanashe Chiriga, who is Heal Zimbabwe Trust advocacy officer, through his lawyers from Wilmot and Bennett Legal Practitioners has written to Zec requesting the commission to furnish him with all information relating the tender.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur client has advised us that there has been information circulating in the general social media with regards to the securing of services related to last year\u2019s election ballot printing that has been a cause for concern,\u201d read the letter gleaned by NewsDay.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur client, therefore, requests the following information: that you furnish us with all information relating to the form of bidding you applied in securing the services of ballot printing in the previous election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chiriga argued that he was entitled to all the minute information relating to all procurement processes on the basis that Zec is a public institution bound by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act [Chapter 22:23].<\/p>\n

\u201cFurther provide us with the basis of implementing a particular method of bidding and the grounds for taking such a decision as envisaged in section 30 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets [Act],\u201d the lawyers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe notice requesting suppliers to submit proposals, name of publication, date of publication and a copy of such publication (if it was competitive bidding or.)<\/p>\n

\u201cAll records of present procurement proceedings relating to the printing of ballots, the contract award and a copy of the signed contract itself, your written approvals for sub-contracting to the supplier as contemplated in section 80 of the above-mentioned Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chiriga also requested Zec to furnish him with information relating to the payment for the contract awarded.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur client is entitled to this information in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe read together with the Public Finance Management Act [Chapter 22:19]. As an institution or corporate body, you are obligated at law to handle public funds transparently, prudently, economically and effectively. He, therefore, has sufficient interest to be afforded the above requested information,\u201d he submitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you are aware, in terms of the Freedom of Information Act, you are obligated to immediately upon receipt of this request, acknowledge such request in writing and you are supposed to make a determination of such request 21 days from the date on which such request was made. Your silence shall be deemed a refusal as provided for in the Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur client is prepared to receive the above documentation in written form and obtain copies of any documentation at his own cost. We are of the view that there is no basis for refusal in granting access to the requested information given the funds in question relates to public funds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parliament\u2019s Public Accounts Committee has summoned Zec for questioning over the tender scandal.<\/p>\n

Reports are indicating that some of these electoral materials are yet to be delivered, despite payment having being made by Treasury..<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe Follow Africa-Press<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) faces court action over a murky US$40 million tender it awarded to Zanu PF-linked businessmen for the procurement of electoral material for the disputed August 2023 election. Convicted fraudster and controversial tenderpreneur Wicknell Chivayo was heard in leaked audios confirming reports that they got a US$40 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":96075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[19],"class_list":{"0":"post-96076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nChivayo deal: Citizen blindsides Zec with lawsuit - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) faces court action over a murky US$40 million tender it awarded to Zanu PF-linke ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chivayo-deal-citizen-blindsides-zec-with-lawsuit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chivayo deal: Citizen blindsides Zec with lawsuit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) faces court action over a murky US$40 million tender it awarded to Zanu PF-linke ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chivayo-deal-citizen-blindsides-zec-with-lawsuit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-03T10:05:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-03T12:20:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/07\/sm_1719996279.237118.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"535\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chivayo-deal-citizen-blindsides-zec-with-lawsuit\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chivayo-deal-citizen-blindsides-zec-with-lawsuit\",\"name\":\"Chivayo deal: Citizen blindsides Zec with lawsuit - 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