By Tinashe Sambiri
In an embarrassing about-face, Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development has publicly retracted a false claim that road construction contractors were already on site for the much-anticipated Victoria Falls project. The Ministry has since admitted that the tender process is still underway and no contractors have been deployed.
The blunder, disseminated via the Ministry’s official Twitter account on April 29 at 9:18 a.m., cited a state media report titled “Victoria Falls contractors on site” — a claim that turned out to be inaccurate. After facing swift backlash, the Ministry issued a formal apology and explanation, attributing the misinformation to a breach of internal protocol.
In its public statement, the Ministry wrote:
“The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development wishes to unreservedly apologise to members of the public and all its stakeholders for posting a twitter message containing wrong information on 29 April 2025 at 0918 Hours.”
The Ministry explained that the false information had been posted without proper verification from technical officials:
“One of the officers assigned the duty to manage the Ministry’s twitter handle conceded and acknowledged that she breached the internal Standard Operating Procedures of information verification,” the statement read.
Setting the record straight, the Ministry clarified the actual status of the project:
“The tender which was issued on 17 April 2025 closed on 29 April 2025 at 1100 Hours. After the closure of the bidding period, an evaluation committee will sit, whereupon the outcome will be sent to the Special Procurement Oversight Committee for oversight of the tender process before awarding the same to successful bidders.”
Permanent Secretary Eng. P.J. Makumbe, who signed off on the statement, reinforced the Ministry’s commitment to accurate public communication:
“The Ministry remains committed to the need for sharing correct information to members of the public.”
The incident has reignited criticism of the government’s infrastructure communication strategies, with observers raising concerns about professionalism and transparency within key departments.