Harare Zimbabwe (News of the South)-Mabvuku-Tafara Member of Parliament James Maridadi is taking the Zimbabwe Energy Supply Authority (ZESA) to court as the parastatal has failed to furnish him with justifications for its hiring a private public relations consultancy firm earlier this year.
The hired firm, Fruitful Communications, is owned by ZANU PF’s Highfield West legislator Psychology Maziwisa and has former ZBC presenter Oscar Pambuka as its media strategy executive.
The company was reportedly hired in January at the instigation of Energy Minister Samuel Undenge and tasked with carrying out PR objectives for the company at the expense of an in-house department led by Mr Fullard Gwasira.
The services allegedly rendered the in-house PR department redundant.
For its services the firm was reportedly paid thousands per month until the issue came to light over the fuzzy contract in May.
Maridadi has since vowed to follow the issue to its nether end until justice is done citing the failure of many parastatals due to such kind of shady deals as his main inspiration in pursuing the matter.
“I’m going to the constitutional court taking ZESA because they have failed to furnish me with the explained justifications for their hiring Fruitful Communications when they have an in-house PR department”.
“Having wrote to them requesting the information under the Access to Information Act, i have a right as a citizen, they did not respond within the stipulated one month, and I wrote another reminder again, which they did not respond to again.”
“It is because of such kind of corrupt deals that many local parastatals are failing, bleeding the state fiscus whilst they are failing to realise any profits”.
“Under the Ian Smith government parastatals contributed over 40 percent to the country’s GDP”, he said.
Minister Undenge has previously denied any direct involvement in the contracting of Fruitful Communications alleging that the company was providing the services for free.
Maridadi who was himself arrested in January on allegations of shooting videos of ZIMRA officials and other travellers at Beitbridge Border Post accused the state of institutionalizing corruption and cited the border incident as another example.
“I was actually arrested for foiling a ZIMRA scam for me to pay bribes for the vehicle which my relative was bringing in not what came out in the papers”.
“I played a recording of the ZIMRA official who wanted a bribe from me to the ZIMRA supervisor at the border but all that was swept under the carpet and I was arrested”, he said.
Corruption has remained a key impediment to economic progression in the country with the Prof Moyo Zimdef scandal revealing another layer to the institutionalized levels of state corruption that has seen many parastatals floundering.
Instead of it being a legal matter the Prof Moyo issue has been drawn away from legal justice into a mere factional fight with the alleged fugitive still enjoying non-accountability.
Comments
About Author
