GOVERNMENT has granted Prevail Group of Companies, owned by businessman Paul Tungwarara (pictured), exclusive rights to undertake river rehabilitation works in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central, effectively shutting out all other firms from the programme, documents seen by the Zimbabwe Independent reveal.
In a Cabinet directive circulated to provincial ministers, Prevail was authorised to rehabilitate the Muroodzi River as a “prototype” project, pending the development of broader national guidelines by the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife.
The directive simultaneously suspended all other river rehabilitation activities nationwide, paving the way for Prevail Group.
The move, which centralises control of rehabilitation permits under the Environment minister, has triggered concern among market watchers and industry players, who said that the decision risked entrenching monopoly power in a sector that has attracted significant private interest.
According to the directive, the government is in the process of gazetting a Statutory Instrument to give legal force to the “Polluter Pays Principle”, which is intended to compel miners responsible for environmental degradation to fund rehabilitation efforts.
“This communication serves to remind you, Hon ministers, that alluvial mining and the river ecosystems rehabilitation programmes remains suspended until further notice,” the document reads.
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“Currently, work is in progress regarding the gazetting of a Statutory Instrument to ensure the Polluter Pays Principle is legally enforceable and to guide the river rehabilitation process.
“The only company that has been given the greenlight to undertake river rehabilitation, as a prototype, is Prevail Group of Companies, at Muroodzi River in Mashonaland Central province.
“As such, the company should not be given a mandate for further river rehabilitation outside this Muroodzi river-approved prototype. Pending further guidance, Hon ministers, no company should be awarded a contract to carry out river rehabilitation across the provinces,” it further stated.
Several companies involved in environmental restoration and mining remediation told the Independent that the decision effectively locks out competitors and undermines transparency in public procurement.
“This is a de facto monopoly,” one executive at an environmental services firm said.
“If government wants a pilot project, it should be competitively procured and independently evaluated.”
The development comes amid growing scrutiny of Prevail Group’s expanding footprint in government contracts.
The company has in recent years secured high-profile projects, including the refurbishment of Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, the Presidential Borehole Scheme, the US$500 million Mt Hampden Cyber City development, and the multi-million dollar construction of precast walls and gates at State House and Zimbabwe House.
Market analysts say the concentration of major state contracts in the hands of one firm raises red flags about fair competition and the integrity of procurement processes, particularly in a constrained fiscal environment.
In September 2025, a parliamentary portfolio committee accused Prevail International of gross underperformance and “window-dressing” after finding that several village business units and boreholes installed in Chivi District, Masvingo province, were either incomplete or non-functional, leaving communities without reliable access to water.
Former Finance minister Tendai Biti criticised the river rehabilitation directive, saying it lacked transparency and parliamentary oversight.
“Parliament must stand up to such issues. Civil society and citizens must also speak out,” he said.
“We have schools without teachers and hospitals without medicine and those are the consequences of lack of transparency.”
The controversy comes against the backdrop of recent remarks by acting President Constantino Chiwenga, who publicly warned against economic capture by a small, well-connected group of elites.
Chiwenga said the liberation struggle was waged to create equality, not to enable self-enrichment by a few individuals, and called for clean governance and accountability in the management of public resources.
As government moves to operationalise the Polluter Pays Principle, analysts say the credibility of the programme will ultimately hinge on openness, competition and demonstrable environmental outcomes rather than exclusive mandates.
Questions sent to Tungwarara, Mines and Mining Development minister Polite Kambamura and his permanent secretary Pfungwa Kunaka had not been responded to at the time of going to print. Efforts to get in touch with Environment minister Evelyn Ndhlovu were futile.