A South African company linked to controversial Zimbabwean “businessman” Wicknell Chivayo charged the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) more than US$1.2 million for an HP server that costs only about US$4,000.
The revelations follow a fallout between Chivayo and business partners Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe.
Reports indicate that Chivayo won contracts of up to US$40 million with ZEC in the run-up to the August 2023 general elections for the provision of tents, electronic devices, biometric hardware and software, ink, and training among others.
Mpofu and Chimombe, who are demanding US$10 million in lost earnings from Chivayo, have released damaging information on him, including a deal involving the South African firm, Ren Form.
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 Chimombe and Mpofu, through Better Brands Security (Pvt) Ltd, owned by Scott Sakupwanya, 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.
Documents and invoices from the deal are leaked into the public domain showing that the South African company supplied ZEC with an HP Proliant DL380 Gen 10 server. On the invoice, the company quoted $1,264,865.
The same server costs $4,695 on Amazon, showing that Chivayo overcharged ZEC by more than 1,264,000 for the server.
Lawyer Tino Chinyoka said the money “stolen” in the deal should be recovered. He wrote on X:
To the ignoramuses at ZACC and the NPA and we speak here without sarcasm or hidden meanings: selling a $5000 thing for 1 point chakuti million Yuwesi is fraud and usury. Definitely prosecutable. The money should be recovered. Even if it means reclaiming it from car sales who will no doubt know where to reclaim their cars from.
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