Bulawayo cement plant deal collapses

A controversial lease agreement for the development of a cement plant in Bulawayo has been cancelled after the Chinese-linked developer, Labenmon Investments (Private) Limited, failed to finalise the signing of the lease despite several reminders from the local authority. The land, located at Umvumila Industrial Park next to the United College of Education, had been allocated to the company in October last year.

The project had been dogged by controversy from the onset, culminating in the arrest of Deputy Mayor Edwin Ndlovu and Finance and Development Committee chairperson Councillor Mpumelelo Moyo on allegations of soliciting a bribe in connection with the deal. The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission charged the pair with allegedly demanding US$20 000 from the Chinese investors as a facilitation fee for the approval of 5.6 hectares of land. Councillor Moyo was later convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison, although he is currently out on US$200 bail pending appeal, while Ndlovu was acquitted after a full trial.

In the latest development, the Bulawayo City Council's director of town planning, Mr Wisdom Siziba, recommended that the lease be cancelled after Labenmon failed to complete the necessary documentation. According to the council report, the company had committed to establishing a cement mixing plant on two industrial stands, offered at monthly rentals of US$450 and US$700 respectively, excluding VAT. Although the company had formally accepted the offer, it did not return to sign the lease agreement, prompting the authority to issue several reminders that went unanswered.

"It was against this backdrop that the department wished to have the offer cancelled and the stand repossessed," the report noted. Councillors endorsed the recommendation during a full council meeting, effectively repossessing stands 15895 and 15896 at Umvumila Industrial Park.

The lease had previously sparked internal tensions within the council. Business and Investment Committee chairperson Councillor Mxolisi Mahlangu had threatened to resign from the Finance and Development Committee in protest over the awarding of the land. Mahlangu had been part of a delegation that visited Dugongo Cement in Maputo, Mozambique, under the impression that the facility was owned by Labenmon. It later emerged that the visited plant had no affiliation with the company, raising concerns about misrepresentation.

Council records reveal that Mahlangu expressed discomfort with attributing operations of the Mozambican plant to Labenmon, warning that doing so would mislead the council and compromise corporate governance standards. He noted that while the Maputo facility operated in a clean environment using modern equipment and adhering to safety standards, there was no evidence linking it to the company seeking land in Bulawayo.

The council has not yet announced plans for reallocating the repossessed land but maintains that the decision was taken to protect the interests of the city and ensure transparency in investment processes.