A LOCAL mobile phone supplier, Nafgan Investments (Pvt) Ltd, has sued Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander, General Constantino Chiwenga and Zimbabwe National Army Commander, Phillip Sibanda over a debt of $103 208,91 for mobile phones sold to various army units.
BY CHARLES LAITON
An unnamed director of army projects was cited as the other respondent. Nafgan Investments approached the court last Wednesday under case number HC10595/16 citing the three top army officers, in their personal capacities, as respondents to the claim, accusing them of reaping commission from the sale of the cellphones at its expense.
They are yet to enter an appearance to defend notice.
Through its lawyers from Mugiya & Macharaga Law Chambers, the cellphone firm said after supplying cellphones to the top army officers between October 2014 and March 2016, later encountered problems when the trio stopped paying for the gadgets although an agreement of sale had been entered into between the parties.
“The defendants (Chiwenga, Sibanda and the director army projects), thereafter, stopped making payments to the plaintiff (Nafgan Investments) for the cellular phones delivered. The defendants sold the phones with a commission on top and have refused to pay the plaintiff money due to it and they are in turn enjoying the commission,” the firm said in its founding affidavit.
Nafgan further said problems with the top army brass started when the army bosses claimed they had overpaid the cellphone firm by $8 000.
“The plaintiff, according to the payment terms agreed between the parties, was underpaid in the sum of $103 208, 91 as at August 22, 2016,” Nafgan said.
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“The defendants failed to stick to the agreed payment terms, which prompted the representative from the plaintiff, Dorothy Nago, to approach one Brigadier General Administration Staff S Moyo to discuss payment for the goods supplied and was told that there was an audit report done internally by the defendants showing that the plaintiff (Nafgan) had been overpaid for the goods supplied by $8 000.”
The firm also said the parties later conducted a reconciliation on all the payments done, but the army refused to disclose the results of the reconciliation exercise.
“She (Nago) then requested for the figure that had given rise to the overpayment, but the defendants refused to continue with the reconciliation, saying the matter was being investigated by the army special investigation branch and as such they were not allowed to divulge the figures,” the firm said. The matter is still pending.
