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Abigail Mawonde Herald Correspondent
The Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ), formerly the State Procurement Board (SPB), has cancelled a lease that Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority signed with Adage of Success (Pvt) Ltd comprising 20 lodges at Victoria Falls.

This was after Zimparks signed the agreement without going to tender. According to documents in The Herald’s possession, PRAZ has since fined Zimparks $900 for breaching tender procedures.

It is understood that Zimparks was raking in an estimated $300 000 annually from the lodges, but is now getting only $60 000 per year from Adage of Success (Pvt) Ltd for the same business.

In a letter to the then SPB acting director general of Zimparks Mr Geofrey Matipano, SPB said: “The State Procurement Board is in receipt of an anonymous complaint on the leasing of the lodge 20 of Zambezi National Park.

“Kindly advise of the competitive process, which was used to identify Adage of Success P/L as the most suitable lessee of the property.” Zimparks then wrote to Adage cancelling the lease agreement.

“The letter serves as written notice of the cancellation of the 19 lodges agreement entered into between yourselves and the Authority on the 26th of January 2017,” said Zimparks to Adage.

“This has been necessitated by the State Procurement Board directive dated June 22, 2017.

“You are requested to wind down and give vacant possession of the lodges to the Authority within the next four weeks.”

Zimparks public relations manager Mr Tinashe Farawo confirmed the development in an interview with The Herald.

“We can confirm that SPB (now PRAZ) instructed us to cancel the lease between us and Adage of Success (Pvt) Ltd due to failure to follow proper tender procedures,” he said.

“We can also confirm that we were fined by SPB. However, we are now in the process of discussing with the company with a view to put it to tender.”