Incarcerated controversial businessman Moses Mpofu’s company, Juluka Enndo Joint Venture, is at the center of a US$9 million tender scandal.
Four City of Harare officials were arrested for allegedly awarding Mpofu’s company the tender, despite it not meeting requirements.
Mpofu is already in jail for allegedly siphoning over US$7 million from the government in a failed Presidential Goat Scheme.
In this case, he is jointly charged with his partner, Mike Chimombe, and their bail ruling will be handed down next Tuesday.
Four city officials, Never Murerwa (62), Jabulani Mukomazi (44), Denford Zhungu (69), and Tawanda Mutenhabundo (29), were arrested.
They are charged with criminal abuse of office as public officers and appeared before Harare magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa.
Murerwa and Mukomazi, from the City of Harare’s Procurement Management Unit, have roles involving authorizing and determining procurement methods.
Zhungu and Mutenhabundo, employed as Principal Accountant and Engineering Technician respectively, were on the tender evaluation committee.
Their duties included evaluating bids against the standards set in the invitation to tender document, the state alleges.
The state claims that, in January, the City of Harare began rehabilitating street lighting for the upcoming 44th SADC Summit.
On 29 January 2024, PRAZ granted specific exemptions to expedite key projects for the Summit, facilitating the tender process.
An invitation to tender was published in the Government Gazette on 15 March 2024, listed on the Procurement Regulatory portal on 19 March.
Eleven companies, including Juluka Enndo Joint Venture, responded to the tender invitation for streetlight refurbishment in Harare.
On 28 March 2024, Murerwa appointed the Tender Opening Committee, initiating the formal evaluation of submitted bids.
On 19 April 2024, the Evaluation Committee, including accused officials, awarded most lots to other companies, disqualifying Juluka Enndo.
Despite Juluka Enndo’s disqualification, the accused unlawfully awarded the remaining lots to them, bypassing competitive bidding rules.
They disregarded their earlier decision to disqualify Juluka Enndo for not meeting the bid requirements, the state claims.
Furthermore, Juluka Enndo’s owners also own Synlak (Pvt) Ltd, which failed to deliver on a 2019 biogas digester tender.
This award contradicted bidding conditions, which excluded bidders with poor records in executing City of Harare projects.
Acting on the accused’s recommendations, the City of Harare entered into a US$9,244,328.71 contract with Juluka Enndo Joint Venture.
