Business / Companies
Zimplats only giving ultra-lucrative tenders to white owned firms
01 Feb 2015 at 11:55hrs | Views
Platinum miner Zimplats is allegedly parcelling out ultra-lucrative jobs to white-owned firms while side-lining indigenous companies, State media reported.
Sources said the subsidiary of South African giant Implats was "paying lip service" to indigenisation and economic empowerment through its contracting procedures. Zimplats chief executive officer Mr Alex Mhembere denied the allegations, saying tenders were awarded by a committee that looked at several factors; including capacity, efficiency and the laws of the land.
At the eye of the storm is a US$142 million open pit contract awarded to JR Goddard Contracting and another valued at US$36 million for drilling and blasting that went to KW Blasting.
Sources said four white-owned companies were privately invited to submit bids for the open pit job: JR Goddard, Kinsey, R Davies and Dairyhill.
Mr Mhembere justified this saying at the time Zimplats was under pressure to produce ore after the collapse of its Bimha Mine on July 18, 2014.
"We selectively invited the four we knew had capacity to do the work. There is a committee that deals with awarding of contracts, which I'm not in any way involved in," said Mr Mhembere.
However, it appears neither JR Goddard nor KW Blasting had capacity at the time as they needed advance payments of US$3 million and 1,4 million euros, respectively, to acquire the requisite equipment.
Insiders said other indigenous companies favoured with such advance payments would also have acquired that equipment within the same timeframe as JR Goddard and KW Blasting eventually did.
"The equipment was transported through Beitbridge Border Post and only arrived on site at Ngezi on January 2 (2015), about six weeks after the contract had been awarded. The same is true for KW Blasting who only took delivery of two new drill rigs from Sandvik (of Sweden) after Zimplats had paid directly for the machinery on KW Blasting's behalf.
"Three more drill rigs are still to be delivered from Sandvik for the same contract," a source said.
Another source added: "Any black contractor empowered with such massive advance funding would have just as easily procured the same equipment from shop floors in South Africa and landed it in the exact timeframes as the preferred white compatriots.
"So, the excuse that the white contractors have existing capacity in terms of equipment is not valid at all."
Zimplats has the prerogative to spell out its own tender processes, but corporate governance expectations are that major jobs be parcelled out via tendering to ensure transparency and value to stakeholders.
Further, within the letter and spirit of Government's indigenisation and economic empowerment thrust, companies are expected to invest in indigenous capacity.
Sources said the subsidiary of South African giant Implats was "paying lip service" to indigenisation and economic empowerment through its contracting procedures. Zimplats chief executive officer Mr Alex Mhembere denied the allegations, saying tenders were awarded by a committee that looked at several factors; including capacity, efficiency and the laws of the land.
At the eye of the storm is a US$142 million open pit contract awarded to JR Goddard Contracting and another valued at US$36 million for drilling and blasting that went to KW Blasting.
Sources said four white-owned companies were privately invited to submit bids for the open pit job: JR Goddard, Kinsey, R Davies and Dairyhill.
Mr Mhembere justified this saying at the time Zimplats was under pressure to produce ore after the collapse of its Bimha Mine on July 18, 2014.
"We selectively invited the four we knew had capacity to do the work. There is a committee that deals with awarding of contracts, which I'm not in any way involved in," said Mr Mhembere.
However, it appears neither JR Goddard nor KW Blasting had capacity at the time as they needed advance payments of US$3 million and 1,4 million euros, respectively, to acquire the requisite equipment.
Insiders said other indigenous companies favoured with such advance payments would also have acquired that equipment within the same timeframe as JR Goddard and KW Blasting eventually did.
"The equipment was transported through Beitbridge Border Post and only arrived on site at Ngezi on January 2 (2015), about six weeks after the contract had been awarded. The same is true for KW Blasting who only took delivery of two new drill rigs from Sandvik (of Sweden) after Zimplats had paid directly for the machinery on KW Blasting's behalf.
"Three more drill rigs are still to be delivered from Sandvik for the same contract," a source said.
Another source added: "Any black contractor empowered with such massive advance funding would have just as easily procured the same equipment from shop floors in South Africa and landed it in the exact timeframes as the preferred white compatriots.
"So, the excuse that the white contractors have existing capacity in terms of equipment is not valid at all."
Zimplats has the prerogative to spell out its own tender processes, but corporate governance expectations are that major jobs be parcelled out via tendering to ensure transparency and value to stakeholders.
Further, within the letter and spirit of Government's indigenisation and economic empowerment thrust, companies are expected to invest in indigenous capacity.
Source - sundaymail
