The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has reportedly splashed USD$100 000 on a luxury vehicle for suspended Chairperson, Sydney Gata, a source within the power utility has revealed.
By Philemon Jambaya
According to the source, the vehicle was due to be given to Gata before he was suspended by President Emmerson Mnangagwa last month following skirmishes that almost threatened the viability of the company.
ZESA has since proceeded to hand over the vehicle to him despite being suspended, a move that has raised eyebrows within the entity.
“The process to acquire the vehicle started before his suspension but it should have been halted until his matter has been finalised,” revealed the source within ZESA.
Another source told t263Chat that Gata was also planning to procure top of the range vehicles for his blue eyed boys using ZESA funds.
“Before his suspension he was in the process of acquiring vehicles for his boys and the vehicles might be delivered soon from a local company (name supplied),” revealed a Zesa insider.
It is not the first time ZESA being fingered in a vehicle scandal.
According to details in the forensic audit done by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) which exposed massive rot, abuse of Zesa funds, properties and irregularities in the procurement department as well as flouting of tender processes prejudicing the company of millions of dollars, Chifamba splashed US$600 000 on luxurious cars.
The Forensic audit seen by this publication shows that between 2011 and 2017, Zesa bought cars for Chifamba every year against the company policy which stipulated that top managers get vehicles after every five years.
The Audit report raised a red flag on the nature of contract Chifamba had entered into with the power utility.
“We inspected the executive employment contract between ZESA Holdings (Private) Limited and Engineer Chifamba (Annexure E 3.1) and noted that he was entitled to a company vehicle with no threshold or purchase limit,” reads part of the audit report.
