As Parlie calls for ZPC Board Chair resignation

By Talent Gondo | There was drama  in parliament when Zimbabwe Power Company Board Chairman, Engineer Stanley Kazhanje was exposed by fellow board members, Thandiwe Mlobane and Vongai Muchengeti for his involvement and possible corruption in the Intratrek saga, where controversial business, Wicknell Chivayo landed the 100 megawatt Gwanda National Solar Project ahead of China’s Jiangxi.

Kazhanje, who earlier on was at pains to explain why the board did not do due diligence to ensure that due process was followed in the awarding of the tender and ensuring that payment procedures were followed, was exposed when it emerged that he did not recuse  himself as an interested party when Chivayo was awarded the tender.

Engineer Kazhanje’ s involvement in the Intratek saga emerged when ZPC was giving oral evidence before the Mines and Energy parliamentary portfolio committee chaired by Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa.

Kazhanje was reportedly involved with Intratrek before the company landed the tender as a technical consultant, a development which he confirmed adding that he had been paid $10 000 for his services to the Chivayo led entity.

It however emerged that Kazhanje was appointed to the board by the former Energy minister, Dzikamai Mavhaire, an assertion which he confirmed.

This is against the stipulated procedure which mandates the board members to be appointed by the firm, ZESA Holdings.

“There was no hand over take over from the previous board because there had been a vacuum prior to our appointment by minister Mavhaire. It is possible that I could have been appointed to the board to assist Intratrek land the tender,” he said.

Parliamentarians quizzed Kazhanje on whether there was political influence which saw Chivayo land the tender but he flatly refused, an assertion which Mlobane and Muchengeti contradicted  when they gave their oral evidence.

“Intratrek came through the former Energy minister, Dzikamai Mavhaire and his deputy Engineer Munacho Mutezo,” said Mlobane.

She said Engineer Kazhanje had not declared his interest to the board as he alleged since, she, like all the other board members only got to know about it through the media.

“I only got to know about it when I read about it in the newspaper and I sat down in shock,” said Mlobane.

ZPC Company  Secretary Nora Tsomondo also confirmed that Kazhanje had not declared his interest to the board as stipulated in section 31 (1) of the Companies Act, since there was no record of his declaration.

“There is no record of such a declaration which I am aware of in all the minutes that I have,” she said, adding that maybe the declaration had been made verbally.

Engineer Kazhanje however indicated that he had declared his interest to the minister.

“I told the minister that I had worked with Intratek before where I had done some technical work for them when they changed from their German partners,” he said.

It emerged that Engineer Kazhanje had been paid $10 000 for this job.

Kazhanje further professed ignorance over Chivayo’s criminal record, arguing that the board conducted itself “honestly”.

“I did not know that he was alleged to be an ex convict but I assure you everything that we did, there was no political pressure,” he said.

Parliamentarians asked him why he did not resign from the board considering that he had failed in executing his mandate and in protecting public funds from gross mismanagement.

Fellow board member who chairs the Finance and Procurement committees , Mlobane, however said there was a lot of political pressure which saw the board fail to do due diligence on Intratrek.

She said the board had been made to understand that the awarding of the tender was a directive given by the then energy minister, Mavhaire while the Procurement Regulatory Authority had also instructed the awarding of the other tender to ZTE.

Mlobane  also implicated the former MDC T Energy minister, Elton Mangoma who is the current Coalition of Democrats (CODE) 2018 Presidential aspirant, adding that he also did not raise the flag on the Intratek tender raising eyebrows on his involvement in the saga.

“Even those (Mangoma) we thought will raise the flag did not,” she said, adding that Energy Minister Samuel Undenge also had a hand in the unscrupulous payment procedure which saw Chivayo pocketing over $5 million from the power utility without the requisite paperwork including a bank guarantee.

Parliamentarians quizzed Kazhanje why the board had taken action against ZPC Managing Director, Noah Gwariro yet had not done anything to Chivayo.

“Gwariro was suspended and this is because it’s an in-house issue where we can take disciplinary action against him which is not the case with Chivayo,” said Kazhanje.

However, the company’s legal Secretary, Tsomondo revealed that the organisation had gathered the necessary paper trail to ensure that those who had acted against the law, conniving with Chivayo, would be prosecuted.

“We are dealing with a cunning person (sic) Chivayo and we cannot reveal what we are going to do but we have prepared everything for the matter to be handed to the Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission and the Zimbabwe Republic Police,” she told parliament.

Former Energy ministers, Elton Mangoma (MDC-T), Dzikamai Mavhaire (Zanu PF), Samuel Undenge (Zanu PF) and former Energy deputy minister Munacho Mutezo (Zanu PF), are also set to be investigated for their involvement in some of the unprocedural acts by the power utility and state procurement board which saw Chivayo land the US200 million dollar project.