New details revealed about Zimbabwe biometric voting procurement scandal

New developments have emerged about some business moguls who have been cited as being involved in a procurement scandal for biometric voting equipment which cost the government around $40 million in Zimbabwe. The country held its first mobile biometric registration campaign last year ahead of general elections.

Some of the actors involved in the corrupt tender issued by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) have been facing trial for alleged dirty dealings. They include Moses Mpofu, Wicknell Chivayo, Mike Chimombe and Pedzai Sakupwanya, all of them business magnets.

The NewsHawks, a publication monitoring corruption in tender processes in Zimbabwe, has now revealed that the case brought against the quartet could involve money laundering following the surfacing of new information from a letter and a leaked audio recording.

The lead actor in the contract scandal, Chivayo, is said to be close to Zimbabwean president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the head of ZEC, Priscillia Chigumba and the Director General of the Central Intelligence Organisation, Isaac Moyo.

The contract to acquire biometric voter registration kits in 2023 is said to have been awarded without any competitive bidding and the invoices were reportedly inflated to defraud the state.

Payment for the procurement was to be made in two instalments, the first of which was 50 percent of the entire amount. There has since been disagreement among some of the actors involved with regard to the sharing of dividends from the deal, the report states.

According to The NewsHawks, new information from the leaked audio presents Chivayo as warning against having some payments for the contract made to an offshore account for fear of being hooked by the country’s Money Laundering Act. The letter cited by the publication also warns of the potential risk of money laundering charges in making payments to a foreign account lodged in South Africa.

Meanwhile, the same outlet in a different report quotes ZEC officials as rejecting corruption claims related to the tender. They are quoted as saying the tender followed due process, and involved all government agencies responsible for such procurements. The electoral commission also denied having any dealings with three of the actors involved.

ZEC is also reported to be involved in a controversial contract which saw the purchase of 2,000 mobile non-flushable toilets at the sum of $7.6 million, with the delivery made much later than was expected.

Minister of State for Presidential Affairs in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Lovemore Matuke, who spoke recently on the issue in the senate, said “there is nothing like that which happened,” and that “those are simply allegations.”

Given the much talk about the $40 million biometric voter registration equipment scandal, a regional anti-graft watchdog has called for investigations into the contract, per New Zimbabwe.

The Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) wants a probe into the matter, especially as it involves high profile personalities linked to the regime in Harare.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  elections  |  government purchasing  |  voter registration  |  Zimbabwe