Opposition politician and former Citizens Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa has criticized President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his officials for associating with controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo.
Chamisa questioned a suspected deal between Chivayo and his business associates, some of whom participated in the August 2023 elections, whose results he has refused to accept.
The criticism from Mnangagwa’s main challenger in the 2023 presidential elections was triggered by a leaked audio allegedly of Chivayo. The audio suggested Chivayo received a windfall from a murky $40 million Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) tender to supply electoral materials ahead of the polls. Chivayo has denied the claim.
Reports indicate that Chivayo, along with local businessmen Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu, entered into an agreement with South Africa-based Ren-Form CC on February 13, 2023, to participate in ZEC tenders.
Chamisa, in a statement released on various platforms, said Zimbabwe’s governance system was collapsing, starting with Mnangagwa. “As they say, a fish rots from the head. An aspiring political candidate is implicated in a transaction involving procurement of election materials by the electoral ‘omission’ together with a well-known ally of the incumbent,” Chamisa said.
Chamisa further stated, “The candidate loses the election. An impostor, who is their proxy and sidekick, recalls the winning candidate in the aspiring politician/conman’s constituency. The electoral ‘omission’ and Parliament both act on the impostor’s letter and bar the legitimate candidates from contesting. This rottenness must be ended.”
CCC spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi also condemned Chivayo’s involvement in the electoral tender processes. “The criminal awarding of the elections tender is in itself sufficient to nullify the elections as irregular, not to mention all the other irregularities mentioned and acknowledged by all observer missions that witnessed the grand electoral scandal,” Mkwananzi said.
MDC spokesperson Chengetai Guta said there was no transparency in ZEC’s operations. “The most important issue is about transparency of the whole process and we need that clarity. Even the Constitution demands that Chapter 12 institutions are supposed to account publicly to the people of Zimbabwe, and that has not happened.”
Election Resource Centre legal and advocacy officer Takunda Tsunga said while the allegations were yet to be substantiated, they raised serious issues around ZEC’s conduct. “The allegations raise issues around gross misconduct of ZEC officials, conduct which infringes on the independence of the commission and the transparency of election administration, which are key issues raised by election observer missions,” Tsunga said.
Former Mt Pleasant legislator Fadzayi Mahere said the recent move by Mnangagwa to give himself the power to exempt public entities from the public tender process is meant to benefit people like Chivayo. “The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act is meant to provide for the control and regulation of public procurement and the disposal of public assets to ensure government contracts are awarded in a transparent, fair, honest, cost-effective, and competitive manner,” she said on X (formerly Twitter).
She explained that the Act used to cover all public tenders, but the change made by Mnangagwa meant he has the power to exempt a particular entity from strict tender procedures. “This allows the public entity or institution to award a contract to people like ‘my son’ without any public tender or competitive bidding process.”
Chivayo claimed the audio recording was fake, but he apologized to Mnangagwa, his wife Auxillia, ZEC chairperson Priscilla Chigumba, and Central Intelligence Organization director-general Isaac Moyo after their names were mentioned as beneficiaries of the ZEC loot. Zanu PF youths expressed their dissatisfaction, saying Chivayo was abusing his proximity to the President and called for an investigation into his conduct.
Source: Newsday
