ZANU PF activist Mike Chimombe and his business partner Moses Mpofu have accused ex-convict businessman Wicknell Chivayo of fraudulently changing their contract between South African company Ren-Form and Better Brands to supply voting material to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
Ren-Form is a Johannesburg-based integrated digital, commercial, and security printing firm. It is located at 9 Trump St, Selby South.
Better Brands Security is part of ZANU PF MP and gold dealer Pedzai “Scott” Sakupwanya’s companies, including Better Brands Jewellery, Better Brands Petroleum, Better Brands Construction, and the Scott Foundation.
The US$40 million tender was for the supply of biometric voter registration kits and other electoral materials to ZEC during the 2023 general elections.
According to The NewsHawks, ZEC, in February 2023 initiated a procurement process and handpicked Chivayo and his partners to supply key electoral materials.
Chivayo, in collaboration with local businessmen and Mpofu, through Better Brands Security (Pvt) Ltd, entered into an agreement with Ren-Form CC, on 13 February 2023 to participate in Zimbabwe’s election tenders.
It is alleged that in cahoots with Ren-Form officials, Chivayo later fraudulently amended the agreement to remove his fellow business partners and grabbed the money for himself, 66% of the payments.
The parties agreed that Ren-Form would invoice and receive payments from ZEC, before depositing Better Brands’ portion into a South African bank account, and this left Chimombe and Mpofu livid.
Chivayo is now feasting on the US$40 million tender in which invoices were inflated by up to 235%.
Chimombe and Mpofu on 24 April 2024 wrote to Ren-Form registering serious displeasure over the alleged breach of contract. Below is the letter:
RE: Demand for Payment and Resolution of Contractual Dispute
We are writing in regard to an agreement entered into between Better Brands Security (Pvt) Ltd and yourselves on the 13th of February 2023. Our agreement was to partner with you to participate in tenders in Zimbabwe for election materials. We have attached the contract for your reference.
This was done after a meeting between Moses Mpofu, Wicknell Chivayo, and the ZEC chairperson, Honorable Chigumba held at your premises in Johannesburg on the 2nd of February 2023; we will attach the photos taken on the particular meeting day.
After we signed the contract under Better Brands, you conspired with one of our partners in the project, Mr Wicknell Chivayo, and unilaterally changed the contract to his company, Intratek. Our agreement stated that you would pay our agreed commission into the FNB account for Better Brands.
However, for reasons known to you, you decided to cancel our agreement without the consent of both parties. The cancellation of that agreement was fraudulently done. We have attempted to engage with you on several times, but you have chosen to continue making payments to Mr. Wicknell Chivayo.
In this letter, we are writing to you in confidence to find a settlement. We will attach some of the proof of payments from the Zimbabwe Government Treasury Department. We have the invoice you have charged ZEC and are aware of the profits being made.
For example, we are in possession of the initial quotation dated the 20th of February 2023, valued at US$2,673,360.00 with quotation no. Q20022023_211. Additionally, we have the subsequent quotation that you sent to ZEC, with the value inflated to US$8,964,603.80, which is approximately a 235% increment.
We are aware that as soon as funds are received into your Standard Bank account number 002742659 held at Southdale Branch, you immediately transfer more than 66% of the money received to Wicknell Chivayo’s Intratek bank accounts.
This is clear evidence of your participation in money laundering, where you are overcharging the Government of Zimbabwe and sending the overcharged money to individual accounts. This is in violation of South African laws and international laws.
Please be advised that most of the individuals involved in this money laundering are on the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list. Therefore, you are assisting sanctioned individuals to hide money, which is a very serious offense.
If this comes to light with the Department of the US Treasury, you will be in serious trouble. The Reserve Bank of South Africa will sanction you if they become aware of your illicit activities.
Of interest, please note that Mr Wicknell Chivayo is misleading you by claiming that he is giving top government officials of Zimbabwe part of the payment he is receiving. That is a total lie; even the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe is unaware that he is getting huge commissions using his name.
This money has driven him crazy and that’s why, if you check his social media, he is on a buying spree of cars, donating to different individuals across the country, yet he is failing to pay us what we agreed. We expect 25% of all the monies paid out to Wicknell Chivayo.
Our suggestion is for you to hold all incoming payments and not pay Wicknell Chivayo until you put us all on a round table to resolve this matter.
There is no need to cover up for one greedy individual and risk getting your company in trouble with the authorities because you are trying to protect one person. Please reflect if this is worth the risk to your business, which we all know you operate legitimately.
We urge you to consider the repercussions of your actions carefully. Your continued involvement in these fraudulent activities will not only damage your reputation but also put your company at significant risk of legal repercussions.
We are giving you 7 days to provide us with a workable solution so that we can recover the money owed to us. Failure to comply will force us to take necessary steps to bring this matter to the attention of all relevant authorities, including all news outlets.
We could have gone through our lawyers and sought relief from the court, but we prefer not to air our dirty laundry in public.
We hope to resolve this amicably.
