Mnangagwa bishop dodges US$800,000 payments

Zion Christian Church (ZCC) bishop Nehemiah Mutendi is dithering in paying a company that designed his massive multi-purpose Mbungo church building in Bikita, which can accommodate up to 40 000 people.

The company, Empire Designs, has also been struggling to get paid for the design of schools for President Emmerson Mnangagwa's ally as well as wellness centres across the country and its efforts in the past six years to secure payment of close to US$800 000 have been hitting a brick wall.Communication between Empire Design owner Godfrey Muvingi and various officials from ZCC showed that the designer has been pursuing payment for the various projects that he did for the Bikita-based church to no avail.

This is despite that church members had been made to contribute towards the construction of the giant church.According to the invoices seen by The Standard, Mutendi was charged US$600 000 for the design of the amphitheatre at the gigantic church that is now a tourist attraction.He was also charged US$23 124 for the design of a school in Victoria Falls, the same amount for a Karoi school, US$17 773 for a wellness centre and US$44 107 for a primary school.

Muvingi also designed the church and was paid $15 000 then, which was only to cover the preliminary work.He was supposed to be paid 3% of the total value of the church building upon completion, not to mention supervision fees.He, however, said he was not worried about not being paid for designing the church as he was content that he was no longer going to be paid and, therefore, considered it as his donation to the church.

Asked for a comment, Shephard Mutendi referred questions to Solicitor Mutendi, who was not responding to questions sent on the  WhatsApp platform, despite reading them. Bishop Mutendi's deputy, a Matekenya, also did not respond to questions sent on WhatsApp."I gave you the contacts of authorised people based in Harare Mr Solicitor and Mr Matekenya.

"I am not authorised to comment as I indicated to you," Shephard wrote.After being told the church has been given a chance to respond, but failed and, therefore, the story was now going to be published without its comment, Shephard said: "Go ahead and suit yourself as well as your client."

However, in his communication with Muvingi, Shephard promised to facilitate a meeting between the designer and Mutendi and sometimes expressed surprise that Empire Designs had not been paid.

On April 14, 2021, a text to Muvingi from Shephard read. "Hi, my brother let me find out when the bishop is next in Harare so that you engage him. "Moyo Charles was tasked to verify your invoices and pay you. "I am surprised that has not been done. Try to meet Moyo Solo at Belvedere, he is reasonable."

He was responding to a text by Muvingi asking when he would be paid and if possible, a meeting between him and the bishop could be arranged so that they could iron out the issue of non-payment.In one of the messages, Muvingi disclosed that he was contracted by Mutendi in Kwekwe after he was persuaded to leave his employment in South Africa by one Mutekwa when the bishop said he wanted to work with him.

He complained bitterly about why he was paid in local currency for the design of the church when he did the work during the dolarisation period.