Ephraim Tapa reported to UK police

ROHR ZIMBABWE, UK CHAPTER – STATEMENT 7th January, 2012

Dear Valued Members and Supporters of ROHR Zimbabwe,

We write to clarify issues regarding developments within the organization since our last statement of 3rd October, 2011.

We hereby state, categorically, that we are not in any way associated with Mr. Ephraim Tapa and his “ROHR International” and as such we do not report to him. Any statements or announcements he makes are of no consequence to us or to genuine members of ROHR Zimbabwe.

You will be aware that we have been involved in a process of verifying allegations of misappropriation of funds and assets of ROHR Zimbabwe by Mr. Ephraim Tapa.

We had the opportunity of a cursory inspection of the bank statements of the ROHR Zimbabwe account as well as corresponding records of remittance of monies given to Mr. Ephraim Tapa for on-ward transmission to the Zimbabwe office from July 2010 to October 2011 only.

We saw records of withdrawals from the U.K Barclays account on the one hand and remittance to Harare on the other hand.

The records indicated that Mr. Tapa was sending the money, via Moneygram to his daughter, Lorcadia Tapa, in Harare, Zimbabwe and not directly to the ROHR Zimbabwe administration staff. That is where the verified trail of the transactions ends.

Beyond that, was a mere written statement by one Mr. Chitauro who signed as the accountant, in charge of the finances in Zimbabwe, which statement was not supported by vouchers verifying the end use of the monies.

This is despite the fact that we had sent Mr. Tapa a request for him to produce all records and evidence relating to the monies he received from withdrawals from the account(s) and the remittances he made to Zimbabwe well in advance of the meeting at which we inspected the available records in September 2011.

The figure involved in the period we looked into is around £26 000.00 (Twenty Six Thousand Pounds). This does not include a further figure of around £11 000.00 (Eleven Thousand Pounds) that was never banked but went straight from receipts by ROHR Zimbabwe co-ordinators to Mr. Ephraim Tapa in person or to his personal account.

The latter is one dimension of the fraud that only came to our attention after the inspection of the £26000.00 related transactions mentioned above. We have had sight of proof of a considerable amount relating to the £11000.00 related dealings.

Furthermore, we have also had the opportunity to see the founding document of ROHR Zimbabwe, namely, The Notarial Deed of Donation & Trust MA853/2007 of 30th August, 2007 and it clearly states the founder of ROHR Zimbabwe as Mr. Stendrick Zvorwadza.

It then goes on to make reference to other founding members, who include Mr. Ephraim Tapa, who was later nominated Chairperson of The Board (not President of ROHR as he has been grandiosely calling himself to suit his overly inflated ego).

We have seen the original Constitution of ROHR Zimbabwe (not the doctored one that was being circulated by Mr. Ephraim Tapa all along). There is no such title as a President in that Constitution. This goes on to show the deceitful inclinations of Mr. Ephraim Tapa.

We also have video recordings of the Board Meeting of 7th to 8th July 2011 which was quorate and which resolved, among other things, to expel Mr. Ephraim Tapa and others for reasons of misappropriation of ROHR Zimbabwe funds and other resources as well as for governance issues.

Mr. Ephraim Tapa claims to have chaired another Board Meeting later on in the same month, in South Africa. This meeting was attended by only three members (including Mr. Ephraim Tapa) of the former Board of Trustees.

This meeting was of no consequence to ROHR Zimbabwe because not only was Mr. Ephraim Tapa no longer a member of the Board of Trustees at that stage but also the meeting was not quorate and as such that meeting could well have been just a gathering of big time crooks.

We have also liaised with the majority of members of previous UK Chapter National Executive Committees (which were dissolved by Mr. Ephraim Tapa for allegedly underperforming) and we are convinced that most, if not all those members were not only committed but were also very capable of discharging their duties excellently were it not for Mr. Ephraim Tapa’s interference and patronising style of leadership.

After all Mr. Ephraim Tapa, being a Board Member, had no business meddling in the affairs and the day to day running of ROHR Zimbabwe in the UK. Anyone who dared raise questions to do with financial transparency or organizational governance was removed from office by Mr. Ephraim Tapa.

He did the same with entire committees, and yet, according to the constitution, he would have needed the Board’s blessings to take such action. In fact most of the things Mr. Tapa did were against the letter and spirit of the Constitution and were therefore below board.

Having regard to the foregoing and to the fact that, although not yet substantiated and verified, there are more allegations involving even bigger sums of moneys received from donors, we have since resolved, through a majority, as the National Executive Committee of the UK Chapter of ROHR Zimbabwe, to declare our allegiance to the authentic ROHR Zimbabwe whose Board is Chaired by Grace Mupfurutsa.

Before taking this position, we have also taken into consideration the following;-

•        That criminal proceedings against Mr. Tapa are underway. He has now been reported to the Police.

•        That Mr. Ephraim Tapa had registered ROHR Zimbabwe as a private company in the UK without the knowledge of other Board Members or ordinary members of ROHR Zimbabwe.

•        That, due to this clandesine registration, ROHR Zimbabwe’s name has been brought into disrepute and confusion.

•        That Mr. Ephraim Tapa, as sole administrator, has been abusing the ROHR Zimbabwe website to further his personal interests and political movement, “Zimbabwe Yes We Can” whilst at the same time censoring reports and even pictures taken at authentic ROHR Zimbabwe events.

He has also been deliberately publishing wrong contact telephone numbers for  some key branch contact persons and co-ordinators so as to make it impossible for members of the public to get correct  information.

•        That there has never been any financial report since ROHR Zimbabwe’s formation despite members asking for updates over the years. Not even members of successive National Executive Committees could ever get updates regarding the finances despite the fact that most of the money came from subscription by members, most of whom were struggling to survive due to status irregularities.

•        That the ROHR Zimbabwe office in Harare was closed as a result of a rent arrears and salaries debt of more than $12 000.00 (Twelve Thousand US Dollars). This despite Mr. Ephraim Tapa’s claims that he was sending money withdrawn from the ROHR Zimbabwe  account in the UK to the ROHR Zimbabwe office in Harare.

•        That the irregularities we saw were just after a cursory inspection of less than 45 minutes  covering a period of less than a year. What if people looked at all the years since ROHR Zimbabwe was founded?

•        That Mr. Ephraim Tapa has since registered a new organization from Zimbabwe, namely “ROHR International” which is said to be already issuing new cards etc..

He has literally mutated and yet he continues to masquerade as the President of ROHR Zimbabwe and continues to issue statements and write e-mails and other correspondence purporting to be “the President” of ROHR Zimbabwe and yet there is no such designation in ROHR Zimbabwe and he is no longer part of ROHR Zimbabwe.

Finally we hereby alert members of the public to the possibility of confusing ROHR Zimbabwe, which we belong to and which has been in existence since August 2007 with Mr. Ephraim Tapa’s newly formed “ROHR International”.

To Mr. Ephraim Tapa we say “You can fool all people for some time and some people for all the time, but not all people for all the time”.

ROHR Information & Publicity Department-UK Chapter