Mnangagwa sucked into Chivayo's mess

Angry members of Parliament plan to summon President Emmerson Mnangagwa to explain his government's contentious decision to retain controversial "tenderpreneur" Wicknell Chivayo on the $200 million Gwanda solar project - all this despite damning allegations of corruption and fierce objections from many quarters.

This comes as the Zimbabwe Power Company which awarded Chivayo's Intratek company the tender, last month told Parliament that it had finished its internal probe on how the businessman's firm had got the lucrative project – in addition to revealing that it had since reported him to both the police and Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.

Meanwhile, Parliament heard yesterday that controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo was back on the site earmarked for the Gwanda solar project at a time legislators were still investigating circumstances leading to his awarding of the multi-million-dollar job without going to tender.

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Energy, Temba Mliswa, expressed shock at the development and threatened to summon President Emmerson Mnangagwa to shed light over the matter.

Mliswa was left seething with anger during a hearing attended by senior Zesa Holdings executives, workers as well as former Energy deputy minister Munacho Mutezo and blew his top after Energy ministry secretary Patson Mbiriri confirmed that Chivayo's company, Intratrek, was back on site clearing land for the project launch.