ZACC CHALLENGED TO SPREAD NET ONE CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION WIDER
By Correspondent
Three senior executives at NetOne Cellular (Pvt) Ltd could find themselves in hot soup amid accusations of engaging in fraudulent procurement at the state-owned telecommunications company.
Whistleblowers at Net One this week revealed that on several occasions Net One engaged an unregistered supplier to construct billboards across Zimbabwe allegedly without involving the procurement department.
They said proper due diligence was not followed in engaging the unregistered company to erect the billboards in Manicaland Province, Masvingo, Zvishavane and Gokwe.
The information from the insiders suggest that the company was engaged through verbal instructions.
The insiders at the state owned telecoms firm are accusing the three executives of being behind the irregular engagement of unregistered comtractors.
They outlined to this publication the standard procedure that should be followed when engaging a supplier for services at any parastatal saying there was need for a fully approved Internal memo – requesting to undertake works/services and request for quotation is sent out to various suppliers by procurement not user department.
Furthermore, they said suppliers respond with their quotations, and the lowest bidding company wins the respective job.
“In the above mentioned case(s) however, Net One execitives engaged the same contractor to do work before initiating an internally approved document or engaging procurement,” said one insider.
“Paper work was then initiated after all the billboards had been erected. With this approach the parastatal stands to be prejudiced of large amounts of money.”
Another insider described the arrangment as “stinking” and challenged the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) to investigate “if it is genuine about combating corruption at Net One”.
The insiders spoke as ZACC officers arrested and detained the Net One CEO Ralph Mushanawani on allegations of a US$1.2 million fraud involving local software company Lunartech Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.
However, the insiders attribute Mushanawani’s arrest to an internal boardroom power struggle between him and some executives, saying it has been raging for some time.
Mushanawani (60) was on Wednesday granted US$500 bail when he appeared before Harare Magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa.
The state had opposed bail but the magistrate ruled that Mushanawani was not a flight risk.
“He is employed and a man of fixed abode,” Gofa said in her ruling.
Mushanawani was appointed substantive chief executive in December 2021 for five years.
Before that, he was acting chief executive from 2020 to 2021. His current term expires next year and already, some executives, whose names are whispered in corridors for being behind Mushanawani’s arrest, are said to be eyeing the post.
Top of the list is chief commercial officer Learnmore Masunda.
Masunda was appointed chief commercial officer in 2023. Prior to that, he had served as NetOne general manager for financial services from 2021.
NetOne officials say Masunda always threatens colleagues, claiming to be close to First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa and describing himself as a Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative.
According to sources, CIO bosses tried to intervene on the issue a few days ago to stop the corporate feud.
Mushanawani wants a second five-year term of office, but pressure is being exerted to thwart this.
In order to taint his rival and deny him an opportunity to get a renewal of his contract, sources say, some named executives allegedly manufactured the US$1.2 million fraud allegations and reported Mushanawani to ZACC leading to his arrest.
In a letter to ZACC, Mushanawani’s lawyers Rubaya and Chatambudza say the allegations against their client are fabricated and false, hence he must be freed from illegal detention without any further delay.
The arrest of Mushanawani has unsettled the telecommunications sector, with stakeholders saying this could have negative impacts on Net One going forward.
One stakeholder says the trend of arresting CEOs, especially on manufactured allegations like in the case of Mushanawani, could result in the state-owned entity failing to attract top quality human capital going forward.
ENDS
