Harare City Council has vowed that it would not pay US$3,5 million to Geogenix BV Limited after cancelling the much-publicised deal with the Netherlands-based company.
Last month, acting town clerk Phakamile Moyo wrote to Geogenix BV notifying them that the contract had been cancelled.
“Pursuant to the agreement entered between City of Harare and Geogenix BV, we advise that council resolve to terminate the contract in its sitting on the August 3, 2022,” read part of Moyo’s letter dated September 23, 2022.
Under the terms of the deal, any party which breaches the contract is supposed to pay US$3,5 million, but mayor Jacob Mafume said they would not pay a single dollar.
“We were never part of the deal from the onset and we continue not to be part of it. Cabinet is one that set and gave it a national status, so it’s a national project. As far as we are concerned, Harare City Council has never had capacity and it will never have capacity to pay a single cent. We know the law and we will defend our position,” Mafume said.
Efforts to get a comment from Geogenix BV local executive chairperson Delish Nguwaya were fruitless as he did not respond to text messages, or answer his mobile phone.
Under the deal, the local authority was supposed to pay US$22 000 per day or an estimated US$1 million a month to Geogenix BV.
In previous interviews, Nguwaya was adamant that the company was going ahead with the project besides Harare City Council terminating it.
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Speaking during a tour recently, Nguwaya said nothing had changed and they were going ahead with the project to fulfil their contractual agreement with Harare City Council.
“Everything we are doing is above board. The problem we have is not with Harare City Council, but an individual, Harare mayor Jacob Mafume, who wants the deal to be renegotiated. He was not the mayor, but all the councillors agreed with the deal. We are going to forge ahead with the deal and if he wants to cancel it, the council will pay the stipulated US$3,5 million,” he said.
