HARARE – The Special Anti-Corruption Unit (SACU) says it will pursue criminal charges against Intratrek Zimbabwe and its owner Wicknell Chivayo, snubbing attempts by Energy Minister Fortune Chasi to collapse the case.
Chasi wrote to ZESA’s executive chairman Sydney Gata on May 26, urging the power utility to withdraw its fraud complaint against Chivayo to allow the company to begin construction of the stalled 100 MW Gwanda solar power project.
The minister’s directive, which lawyers said is likely illegal, came as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had a pending appeal at the Supreme Court, challenging a decision of the High Court to acquit Chivayo by halting his ongoing trial before a magistrate.
The Supreme Court on May 9 restored the charges against Chivayo, and directed that his trial should proceed.
SACU, a prosecution unit established by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to prosecute complex corruption cases, this week said it had noted Chasi’s comments adding that any interference with witnesses would be dealt with in terms of the law.
ZESA executives are lined up to testify, and Chasi’s directive could hurt SACU’s chances of securing a conviction if the power utility was to refuse to cooperate with prosecutors.
“SACU is proceeding with prosecution of Mr Chivayo as has been directed by the Supreme Court,” it said in a statement. “When the proceedings were stopped, one witness had already taken to the stand. A number of witnesses will now be called to testify in this case.”
Chasi this week defiantly stood by his decision to order ZESA to end litigation against Chivayo, insisting that it was in the “national interest”. He wants Intratrek to proceed and implement the project, after the company claimed it could deliver the first 10 MW within six months of signing an amended contract with ZESA.
“It is possible that I may have made a mistake in the decision I have taken. I take full responsibility for it,” Chasi wrote on Twitter. “I want power. End of the matter. I will not have an insolvent parastatal being in court every day when there’s no production. I’m sorry, the project will go on. Blame me or thank me later.”
Legal analyst Alex Magaisa said Chasi had “placed faith in individuals over institutions”, after the minister hailed the appointment of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s adviser Wilson Manase to the Intratrek board, and the recruitment of Mnangagwa’s lawyer Edwin Manikai as legal adviser, claiming it “speaks volumes on the integrity, professionalism and experience placed into the project, with the government concurring that all previous loopholes would subsequently be forestalled and plugged.”
“I don’t think criminal prosecution should stop on that account,” Magaisa said. “Chasi appears to have used the lifeboat dilemma, preferring to throw some survivors overboard in order to save a few. In this case, he says dropping litigation is good to save the project. But it creates a moral hazard. Those who can afford can buy their way out of legal trouble.”
Chasi said he knew “full well that I will be vilified”, but insisted: “I bear the full responsibility for my decision and I understand the public concern. Given the full circumstances of the matter, I formulated the view that there was no intention on the part of ZESA to move forward or at all.
“So, the point of perpetual litigation is gone. The country needs power and the government has simply taken a pragmatic approach. What we need is power. If they sign in accordance with what was agreed, in one month’s time, we would like to see the boots on the ground.
“The function of ZESA is not to be engaged in legal battles but in power generation.”
Should Chasi’s intervention scuttle Chivayo’s prosecution, it would be another blow to President Mnangagwa’s anti-corruption crusade, which has been overshadowed by a failure to arrest and successfully prosecute politically-connected individuals.
Chivayo won the US$183 million tender to build the 100 MW solar power plant in Gwanda in 2015, and was paid a US$5.6 million advance for pre-commencement works.
Construction did not start, and Chivayo was arrested in December 2017 accused of spending the money on things that were unconnected to the project. Some companies he said he had paid for works on the project did not exist, prosecutors said.
He was charged with fraud and two counts of Exchange Control Act violations.
