Updated: Marondera Rural Council has cleared the mist around the procurement of motorcycles after a ZBC News anchor on Sunday night reported Marondera Rural District Council bought 24 motorbikes at a total cost of $24 million.
Savanna News Zimbabwe wishes to retract the earlier article as it has been furnished with unquestionable evidence that the procurement was above board. The sourcing of the motorcycles went through standard procurement procedures and was advertised here on FindTenders.com and print media.
The council released the following statement:
PRESS STATEMENT ON PROCUREMENT OF COUNCILLORS’ MOTORCYCLES
Contrary to various media reports that Marondera Rural District Council procured 24 Motorcycles at a total cost of $24 million, we wish to set the record straight. The reported Motorcycles were actually acquired at a cost of ZWL102 000.00 each or USD1 360.00 each to make the total purchase price ZWL2 448 000.00. Please note that the contract to supply the reported Motorcycles was awarded to Shortpage Trading T/A Lifestyle Motors. We would like to assure our rate payers and stakeholders that a Domestic Competitive Bidding process was done to award this Tender in accordance with the provisions of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act [22:23] as read in conjunction with the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Regulations (SI 5 of 2018). The tender was published in the Government Gazette of 13 March 2020 and Marondera RDC website. The motorcycles in question were acquired using proceeds from the Council’s Domervale Income Generating Project in line with Ministerial Circular number 14 of 2020. The information pertaining to the acquisition of the reported Motorcycles is available at Marondera RDC Head Office for verification to all interested parties.
RETRACTION: On this article we erroneously stated that Harare City Council but in actual fact it is Marondera District Council.
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