JOHANNESBURG,
South
Africa
–
Zimbabwe’s
finance
ministry
paid
over
R1.1
billion
to
a
South
African
company
awarded
contracts
to
supply
election
materials,
and
over
R800
million
of
that
money
immediately
found
its
way
into
the
bank
accounts
of
companies
owned
by
Wicknell
Chivayo,
the
controversial
businessman
accused
of
securing
government
contracts
by
bribing
top
officials.
The
bombshell
revelations
are
contained
in
an analysis
of
Ren-Form
CC’s
bank
accounts performed
by
South
Africa’s
Financial
Intelligence
Centre
(FIC)
between
April
5,
2023,
and
May
16,
2024.
The
FIC
tendered
its
findings
to
the
Reserve
Bank
of
Zimbabwe’s
Financial
Intelligence
Unit,
and
also
the
South
African
Revenue
Services
and
South
African
Police
Service
“for
urgent
attention
and
commencement
of
investigation,”
according
to
documents
seen
by
ZimLive.
Ren-Form
CC,
a
commercial
printing
company
headquartered
in
Johannesburg,
was
handpicked
to
supply
materials
to
the
Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission
(ZEC)
for
the
August
23,
2023,
general
elections
without
going
to
tender.
Its
contract
would
have
gone
unnoticed
until
a
nasty
fallout
between
Chivayo
and
his
business
partners
Mike
Chimombe
and
Moses
Mpofu
over
how
to
share
their
“commission”,
having
used
their
political
contacts
to
secure
the
deal
for
the
company.
Leaked
audio
recordings
and
WhatsApp
messages
between
the
three
men
revealed
that
Chivayo
had
allegedly
paid
several
high
ranking
government
officials
from
proceeds
of
the
deal.
Chivayo
has
denied
that
it
was
his
voice
on
the
clips
and
apologised
to
Mnangagwa,
former
spy
boss
Isaac
Moyo,
chief
cabinet
secretary
Martin
Rushwaya
and
ZEC
chair
Justice
Priscilla
Chigumba
for
creating
the
“adverse
impression”
that
their
institutions
“are
involved
in
corruption
or
participate
in
illicit
transactions”.
It
also
emerged
that
Ren-Form
had
wildly
inflated
prices
of
goods
to
be
supplied
–
from
ballot
papers,
biometric
registration
kits,
central
server,
non-flushing
toilets,
indelible
ink
to
tents.
The
difference
between
Ren
Form’s
standard
charge
for
a
product,
and
the
inflated
price
in
the
final
invoice
submitted
to
Zimbabwe’s
treasury,
was
to
be
paid
to
Chivayo
and
his
partners
as
“commission.”
For
instance,
Ren-Form
invoiced
the
Zimbabwe
Electoral
Commission
R23
million
for
a
central
server
that
costs
R90,000
online,
and
2,000
non-flushing
toilets
priced
at
R68,700
each,
which
retail
for
about
R10,000
per
unit.
Ren-Form
also
provided
ZEC
with
biometric
voter
registration
(BVR)
kits.
In
the
original
quote,
Ren-Form
quoted
US$5,000
per
kit.
Yet
the
BVR
kits
tripled
in
price
to
nearly
US$16,000
by
the
time
of
the
final
invoice
just
a
few
weeks
later.
Similar
BVR
kits
cost
US$3,600
per
unit
when
bought
by
the
United
Nations
Development
Programme
for
the
2021
elections
in
Honduras.
Chivayo
accused
Mpofu
and
Chimombe
of
being
behind
the
leak,
and
the
duo
was
subsequently
arrested
on
unrelated
corruption
charges
and
denied
bail.
The
Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption
Commission
initially
said
it
would
investigate
the
election
contracts
for
possible
corruption,
but
the
probe
appears
to
have
stalled.
According
to
the
FIC,
Zimbabwe’s
finance
ministry
paid
a
total
of
R1,167,364,300.51
(US$61,129,440)
to
Ren-Form’s
two
bank
accounts
held
with
Standard
Bank
in
South
Africa.
The
finance
ministry
also
paid
R156
million
directly
to
an
account
in
the
name
of
Edenbreeze,
a
company
owned
by
Chivayo.
The
payment
was
for
“architectural,
engineering
and
other
technical
services.”
The
FIC
report
says
Ren-Form’s
bank
accounts
were
repeatedly
flagged
for
suspicious
transactions
“due
to
rapid
movement
of
funds
to
various
parties”
once
payment
was
received
from
Zimbabwe’s
treasury.
“Ren-Form
received
over
R1
billion
from
the
Zimbabwe
ministry
of
finance
and
economic
development.
More
than
R800
million
was
transferred
to
the
business
bank
accounts
of
Wicknell
Chivayo,
mainly
Intratrek
Holdings
and
Dolintel
Trading
Enterprise,”
the
FIC
said
in
the
confidential
report
dated
October
30,
2024.
Once
the
money
landed
in
accounts
of
the
two
companies,
Chivayo
made
“significant
payments”
to
his
personal
and
other
business
accounts.
From
one
personal
account,
he
paid
in
excess
of
R36
million
“seemingly
towards
car
purchases.”
Some
of
the
companies
paid
large
sums
by
Intratrek
are
listed
as
Agile
Venture
Capital,
Makopah
Holdings,
Platinum
Group,
WMC
Trading,
Opened
4
All
Trading
&
Projects
and
Asibambeki
Platinum
Group
which
received
a
transfer
of
a
whopping
R351
million.
Asibambeki
has
one
Emmanuel
Musanyenda
listed
as
the
sole
director.
Chivayo
also
made
significant
payments
to
a
law
firm,
Strauss
Scher
Inc
(R4
million),
car
dealer
Daytona
(R5.4
million),
travel
agent
Flight
Centre
South
Africa
(R1.6
million),
NN
Truck
and
Trailer
(R5.6
million)
and
Zimbabwean
make-up
brand
Christian
by
Hadassah
(R1
million).
A
company
called
Kumba
Group
received
R28.8
million
while
Indo
Logistics
was
paid
R9.4
million.
The
FIC
says
while
making
these
payments,
Chivayo’s
accounts
were
repeatedly
flagged
over
the
“round
amounts”
being
transacted,
“luxury
purchases”
and
“transaction
activity
not
in
line
with
the
profiling
information
of
the
account
holder.”
Chivayo,
who
is
regularly
seen
in
the
company
of
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa,
denies
wrongdoing.
Ren-Form
previously
denied
corruption
in
the
contracts,
including
inflating
prices
to
pay
bribes.
But
the
company
now
faces
uncomfortable
questions
over
how
–
of
the
R1.1
billion
it
received
from
Zimbabwe’s
treasury
–
it
only
retained
about
R300
million,
which
is
likely
how
much
its
services
really
cost,
before
price
inflation
to
generate
“commission”
for
Chivayo.
ZimLive
has
reached
out
to
Zimbabwe’s
treasury
and
Ren-Form
CC
for
comment.
Read
part
of
the
Financial
Intelligence
Centre’s
report
on
Ren-Form
CC
and
Wicknell
Chivayo: CLICK
HERE
