Guvamatanga in shadowy cartel cross-hairs.

Guvamatanga in shadowy cartel cross-hairs.

By Staff reporter

The media-shy Finance and Economic Development Permanent Secretary, George Guvamatanga has come under a barrage of reputation-denting attacks and blackmail from a shadowy cartel following the enacting of the new measures of value for money by the Ministry we can exclusively reveal.

In a bid to scuttle the hard work of Guvamatanga in restoring the order in the market, knives are out for him with some shadowy but influential people blackmailing the corrective action focused Guvamatanga to let up or get ruined.

Sources privy to the issue revealed to this writer that the reason for the attacks on Guvamatanga stem from the enactment of the Value For Money policy which has seen a clamp down on suppliers and contractors who were overcharging Government. The policy, popular with the public and has helped restore confidence in the Economy and value of the Zimbabwe dollar, has found no flavour with cartels some claiming close links to the ZANU PF and senior politicians. It has been met with stiff resistance from the cartels used to ripping-off the public purse via unjust pricing..

The publicity-averse Guvamatanga who prefers to let his work do the talking for him has come under fire from cartels after he refused to authorise payments of inflated invoices from the cartels despite their throwing in the name of ZANU PF or any links to other high officials. He is also accused by the cartels of being the one who revealed that businesses were responsible for unjustified pricing models which were also supported by government procurement. Guvamatanga revealed this to President Mnangagwa during a Zimbabwe Economic Development Conference(ZEDCON) in Victoria Falls in August.

The unhappy shadowy cartels have been threatening Guvamatanga with scandals to reveal a non-existent gay life with several young man paid to testify to same. In a bid to exert further pressure,rather bizarrely, several women he is alleged to be in relationships with have also been lined up all in a bid to force him to budge as he has remained resolute in his stance. They want the Permanent Secretary to sign off on their payments or face the humiliation of exposure.

The intention is to dent the credibility of the media-shy former Barclay’s Bank Chief Executive Officer and pressure him into succumbing to the demands to avoid scandals and damaging his family life and reputation.

This is not the first time that cartels of “tenderpreneurs” preying on Zimbabwe’s lax procurement systems, prejudicing government of millions of United States dollars, have bayed for the blood of either the Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and his Secretary George Guvamatanga who have been plugging revenue leakages.

Previously, the Independent has carried a report in which a public procurement source said, “Ncube and Guvamatanga have stepped on the toes of powerful cartels owing to the changes they are effecting on handling tenders. The duo has become very unpopular in some quarters. Basically, they (Ncube and Guvamatanga) are seen as enemies who are blocking self-enrichment schemes, which are designed to milk funds from the weak public procurement system.”