A US$2 million tender issued by the Victoria Falls City Council for a prime commercial stand has ignited controversy, with potential bidders raising concerns over the transparency of the tendering process, the Zimbabwe Independent has established.
The highly sought-after property, Stand Number 1815, attracted interest from four firms. However, documents seen by the Independent indicate that LH Logistics chief executive officer, Linos Masimura, lodged a formal complaint with Victoria Falls town clerk Ronnie Dube after his firm’s bid was rejected.
In a letter dated March 11, titled Letter of Complaint and Request to Participate Fairly in Tendering, Masimura detailed how LH Logistics was denied the opportunity to submit its bid despite arriving at the venue five minutes before the official 10am deadline.
It reads: “I am writing to formally request permission to submit our tender, which unfortunately failed to be accepted despite our arrival five minutes before the deadline. The tender box was being closed even though the deadline was set for 10am”.
As outlined in the letter, LH Logistics detailed how the firm was unable to submit its bid due to a “misunderstanding”.
“Due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, we failed to identify the correct entrance to the submission venue, even though we arrived 15 minutes before the deadline,” the letter further states.
“There are two main entrances to the building, and we mistakenly entered the wrong one, which caused a delay in reaching the proper submission desk. As a result, despite our best efforts to be on time, we were unable to submit our tender as the tender box was closed before the required timeframe.”
The letter alleges that other firms that missed the deadline were allowed to submit their bids.
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“As a precedent set on the day we came for the site visit, the council waited for potential bidders, who arrived late. We feel the same discretion could have been exercised in this case to achieve fairness,” it further states.
Masimura appealed for leniency to allow his firm’s bid to be accepted.
“We fully understand the importance of adhering to deadlines and deeply regret this oversight,” he said in the letter.
“We kindly request your understanding and consideration of our situation, and would greatly appreciate it if you could accept our tender despite the slight delay.”
Questions sent to Dube were unanswered at the time of publication.
