Zesa reverses Mavhaire tender

Zesa Holdings has reversed an inflated tender for smart meters which had been corruptly pushed by former Energy and Power Development Minister Dzikamai Mavhaire with the intention of getting kickbacks from potential bidders.

Mavhaire and his erstwhile deputy Engineer Munacho Mutezo had manipulated and forced Zesa officials to tender for 300 000 smart meters despite being advised that the power utility only needed 60 000 meters.

Sources said the pair wanted more smart meters so they could get more money through kickbacks, with each bidder expected to pay a certain amount per meter "to oil their hands".

The paper says understands that Mavhaire and Eng Mutezo had quashed a resolution by the ZETDC board to have a pilot project first, saying that was a waste of time.

Zesa Holdings is now seeking guidance from the State Procurement Board on how to handle the $120 million tender for 300 000 smart meters after more than 300 companies had already bought tender documents.

Effectively, the power utility has to cancel the 300 000 smart-meters tender and float another one with the required 60 000 or the firm has to send an addendum to all the bidders informing them that the quantities have been reduced.