The Harare City Council says it’s too incapacitated to settle a US$1,5 million bill for services rendered at the Pomona waste management energy plant, which is currently under the care of Netherlands-based Geogenix BV.
Speaking at an emergency full council meeting today, Mayor Jacob Mafume said a special delegation will be sent to Local Government Minister, July Moyo, to inform him about the outcome of the meeting.
Moyo recently wrote a letter to the Harare City Council ordering to pay the bill for the months of May and June. Harare refused to pay a US$780,000 bill in May and resolved to suspend the 30-year waste management deal between Geogenix BV and the local authority.
Mapfume said, “… Councillor Nduma has pushed a motion to say we are still in a position where we are faced with incapacity to pay in terms of the point of the product. If we are to be in a position to pay, then there is a government guarantee and there is a statement which was saying people need to use devolution of funds and we need to go back to the minister and explain that we are still in a position of being unable to pay because of the poverty of council. That is illustrated by the fact that we are struggling with the employees who want money. Before coming to this meeting union leaders wanted to meet with me saying they also want U.S. dollars because government employees have U.S. dollars. So there is even a challenge of paying the salaries, among other reasons.”
Geogenix BV is the brainchild of Delish Nguwaya, who was once linked to the alleged pilfering of funds meant for COVID-19. The courts found him not guilty of defrauding the government of millions of dollars.
In his letter to the Harare City Council after the local authority passed a resolution not to settle the Geogenix bill, Moyo said, “In terms of your contract, the passing of a resolution does not in any way expunge the obligations set out in the contract by operation of any laws. The obligations remain pending unless and until a consensus is reached by the contracting parties. Needless to say, the failure, and/or neglect to pay the May invoice has serious repercussions, not only with respect to council’s obligations, but also on government, which is the guarantor of the project. Your failure and/or neglect to pay have resulted in accumulation of arrears including interest due to the project …”
Harare may pay up to US$3,5 million if it terminates the deal.