Bulawayo loses $300k in botched deal

By Jeffrey Muvundusi

Bulawayo City Council (BCC) is in a fix after it emerged that it was yet to account for a fleet of ambulances it purchased in a botched deal almost a decade ago.

In 2010, the local authority awarded a Harare-based company, Tracker Engineering Private (Ltd), a tender to install a vehicle tracking system and another to Access Medical Corporation to supply four ambulances.

According to the local authority, it lost a total of $303 000, after paying a deposit of $100 000 for the vehicle tracking system and $203 106, 40 for the ambulances.

Speaking at a financial performance review meeting on Wednesday, the council’s acting chamber secretary Spekiwa Mugiya said the council was swindled by the two bogus companies, after paying deposits.

“It is an open secret that council bought four ambulances in 2010 however, that deal did not sail through…we attempted to pursue that particular company which is based in Harare but the company vanished,” she said.

Mugiya said the local authority was still in the process of recovering the money it lost.

It has emerged that the local authority was forced to take the legal route in a bid to recover the costs. DailyNews