The Sunday Mail
The Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) sold some of its old fleet buses through an auction for as little as $100 while the parastatal was paying about $100 000 for buses whose lifespan ranges between three and five years, it has emerged. This development came to light when Local Government, Public Works and National Housing acting secretary Colonel Joseph Mhakayakora (Rtd), Zupco board chairperson Professor Chipo Dyanda and acting chief executive officer Mr George Masaire appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Local Government, Public Works and National Housing last week.
Parliamentarians also heard that Gift Investments managing director Mr Jayesh Shah has been refusing to vacate a Zupco depot in Harare for the last seven years.
Prof Dyanda said while she did not readily have the number of old fleet buses that were sold, the money was insignificant, making it difficult for the State entity to buy a new fleet of buses. “We auctioned some buses particularly the AVMs,” she said.
“We got very little from those buses. People wanted to take them for $100 or $200. We have since said to management: can we auction so that we can see whether we can recover something? But the others we said let’s try and strip them and get some parts and use them if we can.
“When you look at a bus you say: does it make sense for the auction to take a whole bus for $200?” But legislators expressed outrage at the revelations, saying it was unprecedented that buses could be sold for such a price.
“When an auctioneer comes, you have got a value. You are saying a Dahmer bus costs $300 000. You cannot rely on those people who have come. You have told us that it’s $300 000 and when it goes to $200, it’s a mockery,” said Mt Pleasant Member of Parliament Mr Jaison Pasade.
Buhera South MP Mr Joseph Chinotimba said there were reports that a minister’s son had interests in one of the companies that supplied Zupco with spare parts.
But Col Mhakayakora said that he was not aware of this and they would investigate.
Prof Dyanda told the Parliamentarians that one of the parastatal’s challenges was to evict Mr Shah from one of their depots in Harare.
She said the matter had dragged on in court for almost seven years.
MDC-T legislator for Harare West Ms Jessie Majome said it was unprecedented that a tenant would refuse to vacate the premises when told to do so. She said seven years was too long for the case to be still in court.
MPs questioned the credentials of the Zupco lawyer, saying there was a possibility that he connived to delay the conclusion of the case so that he would continue to draw legal fees from the parastatal.
But Prof Dyanda said their lawyer, Mr Thembinkosi Magwaliba, was a professional person who would not cheat Zupco.
She told the Parliamentarians that the buses being bought from China had a lifespan of between three to five years, depending on the roads they would be travelling on.
