By Staff Reporter
Harare — Quill Associates, a firm embroiled in a probe into Harare City Council’s (HCC), financial management, has formally denied allegations of bribing Mayor Jacob Mafume and called for the Harare Commission of Inquiry to produce evidence or issue a retraction.
In a heavily worded letter to Commission Chairperson retired Judge, Justice Maphios Cheda, the company dismissed claims by the inquiry’s evidence leader, Tapiwa Godzi, who alleged during a February 4, 2025 hearing that Quill Associates bribed US$200,000 to Mafume.
The firm labeled the accusations “unsubstantiated” and “damaging,” urging the commission to focus on systemic procurement failures rather than what it called baseless claims.
Quill Associates, re-engaged by the City of Harare in 2024 to implement an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, asserted its work followed directives from the Auditor General, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, and the Ministry of Local Government.
These bodies had flagged $200 million in unaccounted city funds and pushed for accountability reforms under President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s November 2023 directive.
The firm disclosed that the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) approved its no-bid contract in October 2024 to urgently install the ERP system while the city launched a new tender.
However, four months later, the tender remains incomplete—a delay Quill called “surprising,” contrasting it with the swift approval of other contracts like the Juluka Tender.
Quill accused the inquiry of overlooking documented procurement flaws, attaching past tender reports showing the council’s history of botched ERP procurements.
“…the Commission of Inquiry has chosen to focus on unfounded allegations against our company rather than addressing the evident shortcomings in the Council’s management and procurement practices,” the letter stated.
The company demanded the commission produce proof of the $200,000 payment or publicly retract the allegation.
“We respectfully request that the Harare Commission of Inquiry provide substantiated evidence to support the claim made by their evidence leader, Mr. Tapiwa Godzi, during his testimony on 4 February 2025, alleging that Quill Associates paid USD$200,000 to the Mayor of Harare.
“Should such evidence be unavailable or unverified, we kindly request a formal retraction and public apology from the Commission to rectify the harm caused to our company’s reputation,” further read the letter
The Commission of Inquiry tasked with investigating graft and governance failures in Harare, has yet to address Quill’s rebuttal.
Quill’s challenge escalates tensions in a high-stakes probe amid mounting public frustration over service delivery and accountability in Zimbabwe’s capital.
