THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has been implicated in a potentially stinky mobile toilets hire tender scam which could cost the nation over $5 million if not brought to check, NewsDay can reveal.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
The tender involves the 206 portable toilets that Zec wants to deploy at its mobile voter registration centres around the country in phase 1 of the biometric voter registration exercise.
Highly-placed sources privy to the tender saga said Zec last month flighted tender Zec/IT/10/2017 for the supply of the toilets where seven suppliers submitted bids with the lowest bidder, Millytake, charging $57 702 per day against the highest bid of $131 240 submitted by Sanitation Services.
Zec is reported to have awarded the tender to Sanitation Services to supply the toilets for the 72-day voter registration blitz at an estimated cost of $9, 5 million compared to the lowest bid of $4,2 million.
A leaked comparative schedule shown to NewsDay reveals that Sanitation Services did not provide a tax clearance certificate and are not registered by the State Procurement Board (SPB)in line with government policy.
In a complaint letter to the SPB, copied to Zec, Millytake marketing executive Stephen Chikazaza claimed the tender was awarded fraudulently and in violation of government tender requirements.
“We have noted with concern that out of the seven companies that submitted bids for this tender, the award has been made to a non-compliant company, Sanitation Services (Pvt) Ltd, in terms of the tender mandatory requirements and considering that their price was more than double ours.
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“The tender document clearly stated that bidders must submit, among other requirements, a valid tax clearance and must be registered with the State Procurement Board, of which Sanitation Services did not comply with,” part of his letter read.
“In the spirit of transparency and upholding the SPB “fair and square” principle, we would like you to investigate the matter.”
Sanitation Services managing director Ruben Gondo declined to comment on allegations that his company was not registered with the SPB.
“I will refer you back to Zec, I don’t know whether I was awarded the tender, but I can tell you Zec does not entertain anyone who is not registered with the State Procurement Board,” he said.
Zec chief elections officer Constance Chigwamba yesterday requested questions in writing but was yet to respond by the time of going to print, while vice-chairperson Emmanuel Magade told NewsDay he would investigate the matter.
“We are a public institution and therefore, issues of transparency should be given high regard.
“I am unaware that we had a tender for the toilets and as such I will have to find out what happened. At the moment the best person to talk to is the chief elections officer,” he said.
