By Dyson Murwira and Shorai Murwira
US-sanctioned company Fossil Contracting, owned by Obey Chimuka, also under sanctions for allegedly “facilitating corruption”, botched the Lorraine Drive rehabilitation project by using substandard material and not following the correct road construction procedure, an investigation by 263Chat revealed.
Off-record briefings and confirmations by senior government officials revealed that Fossil Contracting used low-quality materials and cut corners when it fixed the Harare road. The investigation was supported by the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ).
Lorraine Drive was rehabilitated as part of the US$500 million Harare-Chirundu highway upgrade. Government contracted five companies, Fossil Contracting, Tensor Systems, Masimba Holdings, Bitumen World and Exodus & Company for the major project.
Lorraine Drive was rehabilitated so that it would act as a detour road, while Fossil Contracting was rehabilitating Nemakonde (Lomagundi) Road.
However, because of the substandard material and Fossil Contracting’s poor workmanship, the asphalt fell apart days after opening to traffic in the second week of April 2024. Engineers also say the large volume of traffic, including haulage trucks, travelling to and from Chirundu Border Post also contributed to the quick disintegration.
The work done on Lorraine Drive between 8-11 April evoked public outrage, following the disintegration of asphalt days after completion. In August 2024, a haulage truck overturned on the road.
An engineer at Fossil Contracting said the company used substandard material and rushed the rehabilitation of the road, which ironically passes through the US Embassy in Westgate. He also revealed that the road crumbled fast because it was opened to traffic before it was ready.
Government confirms poor workmanship
The engineer’s assessment was confirmed by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Engineer Joy Makumbe who admitted that Fossil Contracting used “out-of-specification” material to rehabilitate the road.
“The problem at Lorraine Drive is called asphalt delamination, which is the separation of freshly laid asphalt from the old surface caused by the bond breakdown between the pre-existing and new asphalt layers,” she said.
“Tests indicated that the bitumen content on some of the asphalt used was out of specification, and the old asphalt layer was too smooth on some sections. This problem was exacerbated by heavy goods vehicles prematurely using the road and imposing loads for which the original road had not been designed to carry.”
A Ministry of Transport engineer told 263Chat that correct steps must be taken when rehabilitating a road so that it stands the test of time, which was not the case with Lorraine Drive.
He said the contractor first rips the existing road surface before dumping gravel on top of the ripped tar.
A road reclaimer then mixes the crushed tar and gravel, after which a compactor compresses the mixture to remove air. A grader prepares the surface, followed by priming. Priming is the application of a liquid coat to the surface of a road or pavement before laying down a new layer of asphalt or concrete.
An insider at Fossil Contracting disclosed that after the firm bungled Lorraine Drive, the Ministry of Transport expressed its displeasure given the rapid disintegration of the road.
On 8 May, Transport Minister Felix Mhona acknowledged that Lorraine Drive “failed dismally” while responding to questions in parliament. He added that the ministry summoned Fossil Contracting, which would not be paid for the botched job.
Read More: Government Orders Fossil Contracting To Redo Tattered Lorraine Drive
Engineer Makumbe said Fossil Contracting has not been paid after the poor workmanship on Lorraine Drive:
“Payments are only made after the contractor submits a claim and the supervising engineers certify that the work meets the specifications, and the amounts claimed align with the contract. In the case of Lorraine Drive, the contractor has not submitted any claim because the work has not been certified for payment.”
Parliament’s Transport and Infrastructure Development committee chair Knowledge Kaitano, who is Zanu PF’s legislator for Mudzi West, said his committee was generally happy with the work Fossil Contracting had done on other projects. He attributed the crumbling of the road to a large volume of heavy traffic after the closure of Nemakonde (Lomagundi) Road for rehabilitation.
“Contractors initially did some work on Lorraine Drive, [and] they expected a certain number of vehicles. [The] traffic numbers that were going to traverse on that road were underestimated.
“You can see that there were trucks. Generally, any road would have succumbed to such pressure. Lorraine Drive succumbed to such pressure. Even if the road was done excellently, we were still going to experience some challenges.”
Kaitano, however, said parliament would track Fossil’s work, given the state of Lorraine Drive.
“The contractor promised that they will redo [Lorraine Drive] and other detour roads. Our oversight will always be checking if they have resumed, and if we give them a month to regroup, after the sterling job that they have been doing, I think it’s reasonable enough. If they delay, obviously, we will pick it up with them.”
Asked what would happen to the Lorraine Drive after the shoddy work by Fossil Contracting, Makumbe said supervising engineers in the Transport Ministry recommended that the road be upgraded from a local to an arterial [high-capacity] road due to the volume of heavy goods vehicles that use it.
She said Fossil Contracting was currently rehabilitating Northolt Road and Lavenham Drive in Bluffhill, which will be diversion routes during the reconstruction of Lorraine Drive.
“Lorraine Drive will be reconstructed and upgraded instead of just rehabilitation as was initially envisaged. This work is programmed to commence on Monday, 16 September, and be completed by the 30th of November 2024,” Engineer Makumbe indicated.
An official at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) said the initial budget for Lorraine Drive was US$400,000 given that the road was meant to be rehabilitated and not reconstructed.
As part of the investigation, 263Chat visited Fossil Contracting’s Msasa headquarters on 30 August 2024 to get comments on its work on Lorraine Drive.
A female assistant who was chatting with the receptionist at the time went outside to make a phone call. A few minutes later, she returned and said the company was not authorised to speak to the media unless directed by “the client, which is the government or the consultant, which is ProStruct Engineering Consultants.”
263Chat then requested the number of the engineer in charge of the Lorraine Drive project. After six seconds of hesitation, the lady shared an email address belonging to Fossil Contracting’s head of operations, Engineer Kudakwashe Maguta.
Fossil Contracting’s head of operations, Kudakwashe Maguta, did not respond to questions sent to his email address on 30 August 2024.
That same day, ProStruct Engineering Consultants’s receptionist refused to speak and referred 263Chat back to the Ministry of Transport.
Chimuka, Tagwirei, Fossil Contracting Ownership and US Sanctions
Checks with the company registry offices revealed that Fossil Contracting is owned by Chimuka, a close associate of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s advisor, Kuda Tagwirei.
An investigative report on Tagwirei’s expanding business empire in Zimbabwe, released by The Sentry in July 2021, revealed the close business links between him and Chimuka, with the latter having sat on boards of businesses linked to Tagwirei such as Sotic International and Landela Mining.
Chimuka has sat on the boards of several companies belonging to Tagwirei.
Tagwirei is a leading financier and beneficiary of the Zanu-PF government who has made a fortune from state contracts. Both Tagwirei and Chimuka are under the Global Magnitsky sanction program.
When the Joe Biden administration terminated the Zimbabwe Sanctions Program in March 2024, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed Chimuka under the new Global Magnitsky sanctions program, announcing:
“Chimuka was designated on December 12, 2022 pursuant to E.O. 13469 for acting for or on behalf of Fossil Agro, Fossil Contracting and Tagwirei, and is designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being owned or controlled by or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, Tagwirei. Chimuka owns Fossil Contracting, which has received Government of Zimbabwe contracts that have facilitated acts of corruption.”
Media reports reveal that between June and November 2021 alone, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development handed Fossil Contracting over 15 contracts worth US$45 million.
The US government has also placed Fossil Contracting under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program announced in March 2024.
“Fossil Contracting was designated on December 12, 2022, pursuant to E.O. 13469 for providing material, logistical, or technical support to the Government of Zimbabwe, and is designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, Chimuka,” the US Treasury said.
Internal company documents seen by 263Chat show that Chimuka owns the construction giant through Lirato Foundation Trust, whose chairperson is Loveness Lirato Chimuka. Obey is the trust’s secretary.
Companies and Intellectual Property Office of Zimbabwe (CIPZ) documents reveal that Chimuka and Loveness Lirato Chimuka are the only directors at Fossil Contracting (Pvt) Limited, founded in 2019. Obey Chimuka’s LinkedIn profile indicates that he is the firm’s Managing Director.
Fossil Contracting has previously upgraded and rehabilitated roads, which include 116km of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway, a section of Nemakonde (Lomagundi) Road and Julius Nyerere Way in Harare.
