Tinaani Nyabereka
Gweru- The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) officers have today (February 17) arrested City of Gweru Acting Town Clerk Vakayi Chikwekwe on allegations of Criminal abuse of duty.
Chikwekwe was charged with alleged abuse of office as defined in Section 174(1) (a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) or in the alternative c/s Section 94 (3) of the Public Procurement and Disposal (Regulations) Statutory Instrument (SI) 5 of 2018.
Appearing before Gweru Provincial magistrate Miriam Banda, Chikwekwe who was represented by Tonderai Chitere, of Chitere, Chidawanyika and Partners was granted ZW$ 100 000 bail and also ordered to report once every fortnight at ZACC offices in Gweru.
Chikwekwe will appear in court on March 17, 2023 and is not allowed to interfere with State witnesses at the local authority, or PRAZ.
According to State papers, the complainant in the matter is Tapiwa Hove who is employed by the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) as a Legal Manager.
The State led by Fredrick Matsheza says Chikwekwe’s duties as the Accounting Officer for the City of Gweru among others include responsibility of ensuring that procurement activities of a procuring entity are carried out in compliance with the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act [Chapter 22:235) and any other directions of the PRAZ.
Sometime in 2020, Gweru City Council reportedly wanted to develop and service Mkoba 21 stands and as such on May 29, 2020, the local authority advertised an invitation of expression of interest in the Zimbabwean Government Gazette for tender number COG/01/06/2020.
Eight prospective bidders submitted their applications and on June 30, 2020, the Technical Evaluation Committee recommended that Sheasham Investments, Casas Properties and Wackdrive Pvt Ltd be shortlisted as they were compliant with the mandatory requirements.
On July 3, 2020, the Procurement Management Unit Committee which was chaired by Chikwekwe as the Acting Town Clerk approved the recommendation made by the Technical Evaluation Committee. Further, the Procurement Management Unit Committee is said to have recommended that the tender be submitted to the Special Procurement Oversight Committee.
The accused as the Accounting Officer submitted the tender documents to the Procurement Oversight Committee for review on July 29, 2020.
The state alleged that he was supposed to obtain clearance from the Special Procurement Oversight Committee with regard to the documents he had submitted on July 29, 2020 for review.
However, Chikwekwe reportedly proceeded to award contracts to the three bidders on August 18, 2020 without clearance from the Special Procurement Oversight Committee in contravention of Section 94 (3) of the Public Procurement and Disposal of the Public Assets Act- (General) Regulations SI 5 of 2018 which requires for certification by the Procurement Oversight Committee before awarding a contract.
The court heard that on August 20, 2020, PRAZ wrote a letter directing the accused to collect bids, extend bid validity, correct the evaluation reports and submit the revised evaluation reports which show that the Special Procurement Oversight Committee had not certified the awarding of the contracts to the three developers.
