Youth and Indigenisation permanent secretary George Magosvongwe has revealed Triple Bottom Line (3BL) was engaged to do consultancy work for government through the recommendation of minister, Patrick Zhuwao.
BY XOLISANI NCUBE
Appearing before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment chaired by Gokwe-Nembudziya MP Justice Mayor Wadyajena (Zanu PF), Magosvongwe said Zhuwao instructed the ministry to engage 3BL with a view to find a working relationship in events management.
“We were introduced to 3BL by our minister (Zhuwao). He summoned us to his office and introduced Thandi Ngwenya (3BL chief executive officer) to us. She is the only person we were introduced to,” Magosvongwe said.
“So she was introduced to us as Thandi Ngwenya and not as someone who owned a company. He said she wanted to work with the ministry and he asked us to look at the modalities of how it would be done.”
He told the committee that it was normal for Zhuwao to instruct him to engage private individuals.
He said the relationship could not develop as the Attorney-General’s Office rejected a draft memorandum of understanding that had been presented to the ministry by 3BL stating that the nature of engagement which was being sought by the firm needed to go through the public tender system.
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Magosvongwe alleged that the ministry’s finance director, Emmanuel Ngwarati, had approached him claiming that 3BL wanted payment for the exploratory work it had undertaken, but he refused to pay.
But Ngwarati said Ngwenya did not make any payment demand, raising the suspicion of the committee that he was lying under oath.
The committee said it would consider charging Ngwarati if he did not provide a clear response on allegations that 3BL demanded payments from government.
