ZIMBABWE ELECTORAL COMMISSION TENDER SCANDAL REVEALS DEEP CORRUPTION

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is now facing serious accusations of corruption after a secret election tender was exposed. Documents that were confirmed by The NewsHawks show that there were secret meetings and financial deals that ZEC never told the public about. Instead, the story given by ZEC was very different, and the public only knew what was reported by the Sunday Mail, which is state-controlled.

The trouble started when ZEC Chairperson Priscilla Chigumba, along with some important people like Wicknell Chivayo and Moses Mpofu, visited Ren-Form, a company that was secretly given a contract for election materials. This visit happened on February 2, 2023, and marked the beginning of an agreement that was kept secret from the public. There were also other secret meetings at Chigumba’s home in Greendale, Harare, making the whole deal even more mysterious.

Later on, Ren-Form signed another deal with Better Brands Security (Pvt) Ltd, a company owned by Pedzisayi “Scott” Sakupwanya, who is well-known in the country as a gold baron. This second agreement happened on February 13. But, even though this deal was already in place, ZEC acted like they were still starting their official tender process. The documents and the timeline, however, show that the official tender process was just for show. The real deal had already been made in secret.

The timeline shows that by the time ZEC’s official team went to South Africa for meetings between April 16 and June 27, the deal had already been signed, and money was already being paid. The first payment happened on March 31, just before Easter. This was even before the team’s talks in April.

A shocking audio recording also reveals more details. In the audio, Chivayo said he received a payment of US$1 million. This was just the smallest of several payments that were planned to be shared between the key people involved. The money was divided like this: Sakupwanya got US$350,000; Chivayo, Mpofu, and Mike Chimombe each received US$150,000; and “Moms vaya” (Chigumba) and “DG” (CIO boss Isaac Moyo) got US$100,000 each. This payment was supposed to make sure they enjoyed a rich Easter holiday, and they were promised even more money later.

What makes this scandal even worse is that top government officials, like the Chief Secretary to the Cabinet, Martin Rushwaya, and the Director-General of the Central Intelligence Organisation, Isaac Moyo, were involved. These two are not just high-ranking officials but are also very close to President Emmerson Mnangagwa. It seems that these officials played an important role in organizing the deal and making sure the payments were made, which shows how deep this corruption runs, even reaching the top levels of the government.

This scandal has not only damaged the reputation of ZEC, but it has also shown that there is a lot of corruption among those in power. Huge amounts of money were involved, and some of Mnangagwa’s closest allies and associates have been exposed. This situation has raised serious questions about how elections are run in Zimbabwe and whether the systems in place can be trusted to protect democracy in the country. As more information continues to come out, it is clear that there are many challenges ahead in the fight for transparency and accountability in Zimbabwe’s politics and election systems.

This case is a strong reminder that fighting corruption is not easy, especially when the people involved hold so much power. If Zimbabwe is to move forward as a democratic nation, these deep problems must be dealt with. The public deserves to know the truth about how decisions are made and how money is used, especially when it comes to elections. The hope is that by exposing these corrupt deals, steps can be taken to make things right and to protect the country’s future from similar scandals.