Salted Whip: Government’s crusade of order continues unabated

Salted Whip: Government’s crusade of order continues unabated

Nevanji Munyaradzi Chiondegwa

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has finally cracked the awaited salted whip long promised by President Mnangagwa on economic saboteurs by blacklisting 19 contractors accused of offloading proceeds from tenders on the parallel market.
As a result of their activity they can no longer register with the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ).
In a press statement yesterday, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said the move will instill order and curb speculative behaviour.
The measure to blacklist the nefarious contractors is implementation of President Mnangagwa’s promise in May 2022, where he said the ejection of rent seeking behaviour from the market is imminent.

They are also an operationalisation of a promise made by the Finance and Economic Development Ministry on August 18 2020 where a value for money process on all payments to suppliers and contractors was instituted.
Prof Ncube said;
“It has been observed that some contractors after passing through the Value for Money process and having received their payment from government still tend to siphon their proceeds into the parallel market thereby causing domestic inflationary pressures.

He added on saying, “In this regard this statement today is to give an update on findings from the work conducted by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) on monitoring payments made to Government suppliers as well as measures to deal with non-compliant Contractors with a view to plug parallel market dealing.
Prof Ncube said that a total of 19 companies have been identified by the FIU to be involved in the unlawful conduct of siphoning money onto the black market. Some of the companies areNariox (Pvt ) Ltd, New Age Marketers (Pvt ) Ltd, Pepwit Investments (Pvt ) Ltd , Tirumi Investments (Pvt) Ltd, Mwendo Africa (Pvt ) Ltd ,Alg World Investments (Pvt ) Ltd, Lobmer Investments (Pvt ) Ltd viii. Nisbank Enterprises (Pvt ) Ltd , Sailgroom Enterprises, Wayvar Investments
It was noted that upon receiving their payments, the companies would engage in spontaneous illegal foreign currency transactions through buying foreign currency from individuals and entities.

It was also noted that some of the companies would engage in transactions which are not related to their line of business.
Some would also purchase fast moving consumer goods from various manufacturers and the goods would then be sold exclusively in foreign currency.
Prof Ncube said, “In view of the above, and in an endeavour to maintain sanity in the foreign currency market and to curb inflation, Government is left with no other option than to blacklist the mentioned companies. The Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) will be advised accordingly, to blacklist these entities from doing business with Government.
The Professor Ncube said the Government of Zimbabwe remains committed to maintaining macroeconomic stability and the elimination of harmful and destabilizing arbitrage conditions that have pervaded the economy at the expense of the generality of citizens.