Town Clerk Chisango arrested in US$9.2 million street lights tender scandal

 

Nyashadzashe Ndoro

Chief Reporter 

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission has arrested Harare City Council Town Clerk, Engineer Hosiah Chisango, on charges of criminal abuse of duty.

The arrest comes after allegations that Eng. Chisango colluded with four other officials, already in custody, to award a lucrative street lights tender to a company owned by businessman Moses Mpofu without following proper procedures.

According to ZACC, the tender in question is worth over US$9.2 million and was awarded to Juluka Enndo Joint Venture, a company with ties to Mpofu, who is also facing fraud charges involving US$87 million under the Presidential Goat Scheme.

Chisango joins four City of Harare officials, Never Murerwa, Jabulani Mukomazi, Denford Zhungu, and Tawanda Mutenhabundo, who are accused of disregarding the competitive bidding process and awarding a tender to a company with a history of failing to deliver on previous contracts.

According to ZACC, the tender in question was for the refurbishment of streetlights along Harare roads in preparation for the upcoming Southern African Development Community Summit. Despite receiving bids from 11 companies, the officials allegedly colluded to award the tender to Juluka Enndo Joint Venture, a company that had previously failed to deliver on a biogas digester project in 2019.

The officials are accused of ignoring their earlier decision to disqualify Juluka Enndo Joint Venture for failing to meet the bid requirements. Instead, they allegedly awarded the company the tender, potentially costing the City of Harare US$9,244,328.71.

ZACC alleges that the officials acted contrary to their duties as public officers, with the intention of extending an undue favor to Juluka Enndo Joint Venture. The company's owners also have a significant stake in another company, Synlak (Pvt) Ltd, a company which had in 2019 been awarded a tender for a biogas digester and failed to deliver.

Chisango is expected to appear in court tomorrow (Thursday) at Harare Magistrates Court.

His colleagues are in custody after bail was denied.

Chisango was previously suspended and reinstated at City of Harare after being aquitted of abuse of office charges arising from the allocation of 13 stands to allocated to a private land developer in Kuwadzana in 2019.