SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
The ZANU PF government is to spend $16 m on ‘top of the range vehicles at a time when many are facing starvation’, a local daily newspaper has reported. A Wednesday Daily News report said the plan was revealed in a tender floated by the State Procurement Board, inviting bids for the supply of Isuzu trucks and Toyota Prados. According to the tender floated Tuesday, the paper said the Central Mechanical Engineering Department (CMED) requires 250 double cab vehicles for MPs and 20 Toyota Prado VXL vehicles for Cabinet ministers. Only last month SW Radio Africa reported that the CMED, which buys and services government vehicles, had floated yet another tender for 100 Ford Ranger double cab vehicles. It is not known if the vehicles have been since been found. But according to the Daily News report the parliamentary committee for industry and commerce has been lobbying for the ‘Ford deal’ to go to the struggling Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries. At its floatation the Ford tender was also heavily criticised. Apart from ignoring the ordinary people’s plight the government was seen failing to prioritise local car dealers such as Willovale. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions criticised the intended purchase then, saying it stood to benefit only international companies who are the only suppliers of the specified Ford vehicles. The latest plan to purchase off-road vehicles has drawn equally strong criticism from civil society. Human Rights activist Nixon Nyikadzino told SW Radio Africa that it was unnecessary to purchase new vehicles for every MP because most of them are beneficiaries of the previous parliament’s schemes. Nyikadzino, who is Programme Manager at Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, said his organisation was lobbying for ‘transparency and accountability in the government procurement services’. He added that the government schemes should be ‘sensitive to the state of the economy and the plight of the ordinary masses’ and he called for an end to the ‘trend of looting and brazen selfishness’ in government.