Why Govt Terminated Austrian Company's Dualisation Of Beitbridge-Harare Highway Contract
An anonymous source who spoke to The Herald revealed that the decision to terminate the contract for the dualisation of the Beitbridge-Harare Highway was made by Cabinet and not President Emmerson Mnangagwa as an individual.
The source said the decision was made after consulting with the Attorney-General, Advocate Prince Machaya,who informed Mnangagwa that the agreement with Geiger International could be terminated without legal consequences provided that there should be a material breach of the contract and secondly, the terminating part should give the other a notice of intention that should last for 60 days to effect the termination. According to Cabinet deliberations of March 13, 2018, Geiger International failed to provide proof of funding.
The source said the first breach of contract by Geiger International was the failure to provide proof of funding. The second breach is that two years after the signing of the agreement, there hasn’t been anything happening on the road. This is despite the fact that Transport Minister Joram Gumbo was quoted by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) stating that the project was underway.