The Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO), which now is now part of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, called Mutapa Investment Fund, an alleged shadowy launchpad for large scale looting of Zimbabwe’s natural resources and economic wealth, will this year take delivery of 550 buses that were allegedly procured under dubious circumstances involving the floating of tender procedures, Nehanda Radio can exclusively reveal.
The tender is categorised into four parts.
The first one is for the supply and delivery of 200X64 seater intercity buses whose tender number is ZUPCO/NCB 15/2023.
It is followed by tender number ZUPCO/RB 16/2023, which is for the supply and delivery of 100 X 84 seater rural buses.
The supply and delivery of 50X64 seater electric buses is cited under ZUPCO/EB 17/2023, while the 200X mini buses are supplied under ZUPCOMB 18/2023.
According to sources close to Nehanda Radio, the tender that was flighted by ZUPCO on 28 December 2023, whose due date is January 26, was processed way after the buses were brought on behalf of the parastatal by a company called Tsapo Group linked to powerful politicians in Zimbabwe.
The source accused what he called “powerful politicians and government officials who have links with, Tsapo Group, a diverse group of companies with interests in the motor industry, from vehicle services to supply and construction, of orchestrating the illegal awarding of the tender.
The buses, according to the source, have already been brought and are stationed at Beira, Mozambique, waiting for the regularisation of the tender.
“The buses were purchased way before the tender was flighted and as we speak they are at the port. The company has powerful people behind them, and flighting tenders is a mere facade.
“Powerful politicians and government officials are the architects of this deal. The founder of the company, is likely to be involved in this deal since he deals with FAW.
“He also founded Supreme Panelbeaters, another company that cashes in on tenderpreneurship,” said our source, who preferred anonymity.
Fortune Ralston, Tsapo Group tender officer, did not respond to questions sent to him enquiring over the matter. He even declined phone calls.
In its company profile on Google, the Tsapo Group of Companies says it was established in 2017 and is “a holding for (11) eleven corporate Strategic Business Units (SBUs) that operate in the automotive sector in relation to one another but separately.
“Tsapo Group has long-standing business partnerships with Chinese firms for the provision of buses, vehicles, agricultural equipment, and construction equipment to the African market through its Strategic Business Units,” they wrote.
While a new tender has been released, inviting bidders to supply 550 buses, many are wondering about the whereabouts of the more than 1000 ZUPCO buses that were purchased and commissioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa since 2019.
Private transporters are the ones plying the city and major routes in the country. The transport crisis is worse, deepened by the seeming disappearance of ZUPCO buses.
Last year, the Auditor-General’s report revealed the likelihood that ZUPCO was embroiled in numerous corruption scandals, after the institution failed to account for ZWL3,4 billion in revenue it generated in urban areas, due to non-submission of information, raising the risk of possible fraud.
The Mutapa Investment Fund was removed by the President’s Statutory Instrument 156 of 2023 from the provisions of the country’s Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act, hence controversially eliminating the need for transparency in transactions involving ZUPCO and 19 other State-owned companies.
These include but not limited to Defold Mine, Kuvimba, Silo Investments (GMB commercial arm), the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, the Cold Storage Commission, Petrotrade, POSB, Netone Cellular, the National Railways of Zimbabwe Holdings and Zimbabwe Power Company.
