Tender disputes stall projects

By Farai Mabeza

ZIMBABWE’S procurement process has been fraught with disputes, many of which have resulted in a high number of cases being brought before the country’s courts, a business executive has said.

The cases have usually taken long to resolve, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) national council member, Abel Mubango, told The Financial Gazette.
The result, he said, was that important projects had been stalled while waiting for finalisation of court cases.

A total of 82 procurement cases went before the Administrative Court between 2015 and 2017, he said.
“I think it is a high number and the downside is that it is going to cost the country in terms of time, (and) in terms of the costs for the courts to sit down. The most important aspect is time because it means that once the case is before the courts, the project cannot continue.
“So depending on how long it will take  it can take up to a year, two years, three years  it means that projects cannot be implemented and by the time you want to implement the project, costs may have gone up,” Mubango said.

He said it was important for procurement professionals to learn from previous disputes to avoid similar cases.

“We need to follow all systems and all procedures because we can’t all win tenders and if all systems are followed no case ends up in court,” Mubango said.

Private and public procurement in Zimbabwe has seen high levels of corruption, but graft has been more pronounced in the public sector, State enterprises and parastatals.

Forms of corruption range from bribery, embezzlement of public funds, fraud, smuggling, externalisation of funds, concealment of information, misuse or abuse of office for personal gain, extortion, misrepresentation, nepotism and tax evasion.

Public sector entities such as the National Social Security Authority, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, Air Zimbabwe, ZESA, in particular Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC), NetOne, have been mentioned in scams involving millions of dollars.

President Robert Mugabe has publicly expressed concern on public sector corruption but not much has been done to combat the scourge.

According to Global Financial Integrity, between 1980 and 2010, Zimbabwe lost an estimated $12 billion to corruption involving smuggling, illicit financial outflows and other illegal activities.