Goat-gate: cornered Government sets to resume Presidential Goat Scheme.
STAFF WRITER
The government is set to resume the Presidential Goat Scheme after it was implicated in the raging goat-gate that has rocked the country.
Government is optimistic that it will bounce back after a huge setback and will continue with the programme.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries,Water and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka told Senators on Thursday,that the scheme had been stopped owing to Blackdeck Private Limited’s failure to supply the goats as per contractual agreement.
“When the programme was mooted,we wanted to give the goats to chiefs,headmen and village heads,”Dr Masuka said.
Masuka said the programme was supposed to benefit 35 000 villages, headmen and village heads and possibly 1.8m homesteads.
However, the contracted company Blackdeck only managed to supply 6 000 goats that have been distributed to date, compelling government to make a knee-jerk reaction.
The alleged fraudsters Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu have since appeared in court and are expected back Friday for continuation of their bail application after spending two nights behind bars.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in a statement released this week, the duo forged a ZIMRA Tax clearance certificate and a NSSA compliance certificate in the name of Blackdeck Private Limited and attached them in a bidding document which they submitted to the Lands ministry.
NPA says they then misrepresented that the company was in full compliance with ZIMRA and NSSA requirements.
Investigations indicated that the QR code and the reference on the NSSA compliance certificate were issued to a different company.
It was further established that Blackdeck Private limited was deregistered from the NSSA system in January 2016.
Further investigations established that Blackdeck Private Limited was not issued with a ZIMRA tax clearance certificate for the year 2021 and that the QR code on the forged tax clearance certificate belonged to a different company.
Acting on the misrepresentation, the Ministry of Lands contracted Blackdeck Private Limited on the 3rd of November 2021.
The Ministry transferred ZWL901 294 200 and ZWL698 705 800 on the 21st of April 2022 and the 29th of June 2022 respectively into their bank account.
The total amount was ZWL$1.6 bn and was equivalent to US$7 712 197.
Following delays in delivery of the goats, the Ministry of Lands officials made several engagements with the accused persons.
Chimombe and Mpofu misrepresented that they had mobilized 32 500 goats across the provinces which were ready to be distributed to the beneficiaries.
However, said the NPA, a verification process revealed that the accused persons only had 3 713 goats in their holding sites.
The Ministry canceled the contract on the 29th of August 2022, following the discovery.
The accused persons only supplied a total of 4 208 goats valued at US$331 445 and went on to convert US$7 380 751 to their personal use.
Nothing was recovered.