- US$21 million paid
- Switch-gears not yet delivered
- Zacc commissioners to carry out inspection-in-loco at Hwange
THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Corruption (Zacc) is currently investigating the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) over a US$21 million payment reportedly made to a Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation headquartered in Zurich, for switch-gears meant for Hwange and Kariba power stations.
A source within Zacc told this publication that its commissioners were set to visit Hwange on a fact-finding mission concerning the deal.
The arrangement was supposed to see Zesa supplied with two switch-gears.
“Commissioners are going to visit Hwange on a fact-finding mission after a whistle-blower alerted them to the US$21 million deal, which has seen nothing supplied to Zesa so far,” a source told Zim Morning Post.
In an interview with Zim Morning Post, acting Zesa CEO Patrick Chivaura said he was not aware of the deal and referred all questions to the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC).
“I am not aware of that; ask ZPC,” Chivaura said.
The flopped deal comes against a backdrop of massive power cuts in the country, including a herculean debt the power utility is struggling to settle.
These revelations come at a time when Zesa is failing to service its debts to power importers and is entangled in millions of dollars in unsettled debts with Eskom.
Zesa has been caught up in several storms involving corruption, which have also resulted in the power utility losing millions of dollars.
The cash-strapped and debt-ridden Zesa is on many occasions caught offside in tender processes.
Zim Morning Post at one time revealed that management within the power utility once got caught up in irregular procurement processes, resulting in the purchase of equipment and machinery that has up to now not been commissioned and has been lying idle since 1998.
