Harare City Council Officials Arrested For Giving Moses Mpofu A US$9 Million Street Lights Tender

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has arrested four officials from the Harare City Council for allegedly dishing a US$9.2 million street lights tender to Moses Mpofu without following proper procedures.

Harare City Council Officials Dish Out US$9 Million Street Lights Tender To Moses Mpofu

The officials are Never Murerwa (62), manager of the supply chain in the Procurement Management Unit; Jabulani Mukomazi (44), principal buyer; Denford Zhungu (69), principal accountant; and Tawanda Mutenhabundo (29), engineering technician.

They allegedly awarded the tender to Juluka Enndo Joint Venture, a company owned by businessman Moses Mpofu.

Mpofu is currently in remand prison with Mike Mpofu on separate fraud charges involving US$87 million, which was meant for the Presidential Goat Scheme. He got the street lights tender despite his company failing to meet the necessary requirements.

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The Shady Procurement Process

Moses Mpofu Street Lights — *Harare City Council Officials Arrested For Giving Moses Mpofu US$9 Million Street Lights Tender [Image: X]*

According to ZACC, the charges stem from the time the officials served on the tender evaluation committee for the streetlight refurbishment project, identified as tender number COH/DOW/S.5/2024. The project was part of the city’s preparations for the upcoming SADC Summit.

In January, the City of Harare initiated a project to rehabilitate street lights along various roads. The Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) granted some exemptions to ensure the projects were completed in time for the summit. An invitation to tender was published in the Government Gazette on March 15 and listed on the PRAZ portal on March 19.

Eleven companies responded to the tender invitation, including Juluka Enndo Joint Venture. On March 28, Murerwa appointed the Tender Opening Committee. By April 19, the evaluation committee, including Mukomazi, Zhungu, and Mutenhabundo, awarded most of the tender to Syvern Investments, Exodus and Company, Ship Tracks, and Onel Engineering.

Juluka Enndo Joint Venture was initially disqualified for not meeting the tender requirements. However, the four officials allegedly colluded to award the remaining lots to Juluka Enndo, bypassing the competitive bidding process and ignoring their earlier decision to disqualify the company.

Investigations revealed that Juluka Enndo’s owners also manage Synlak (Pvt) Ltd, a company previously awarded a tender in 2019 for a biogas digester project, which they failed to deliver. According to ZACC, this violated standard bidding conditions that disqualify bidders with poor performance records.

ZACC spokesperson, Commissioner Thandiwe Mlobane, confirmed the arrests to The Herald, stating the officials would face charges of abusing their duties to extend undue favor to Juluka Enndo, potentially costing the city over US$9.2 million.

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