Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group DIDG has said their deal with the government fell apart because Transport Minister Joel Biggie Matiza ordered its cancellation, The Standard reports.
The matter came to light in a response from DIDG executive chairman Donovan Chimhandamba to NRZ chairman Martin Dinha who had asked DIDG to make written submissions justifying why the contract should not be terminated. DIDG reportedly responded and said:
<blockquote>We have the monies which have been procured at a significant cost and continue to incur liabilities in order to keep those monies secured. It is not in the interest of NRZ and the nation for the minister to instruct you to do an unlawful act. Ultimately, if this were to happen, significant damages will have to be paid by NRZ.
We placed on record right from the beginning that since his appointment as the minister of Transport, Honourable JB Matiza never liked our organisation.
We have had it on very good authority that he has been misrepresenting our position to the authorities with a clear intention of wanting to secure the termination of this tender and to replace same with other players who are known non-indigenous.
The directive issued to your board falls outside the minister’s mandate.The undue pressure, which is being exerted on your board by him and other players is clearly unlawful and must be resisted.
We trust that your board will uphold the letter and spirit of our law and consider the merits and demerits of the case in dealing with this matter.</blockquote>
The minister is yet to respond to these allegations.
More: <a href="https://www.thestandard.co.zw/2020/06/28/minister-spot-us400m-deal/">The Standard </a>

Pindula News

Matiza Ordered The Cancellation Of The DIDG $400 Million Deal - DIDG

An investor (DIDG) who intended to inject US$400 million into the <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/National_Railways_Of_Zimbabwe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">National Railways of Zimbabwe’s (NRZ)</a> recapitalisation has turned to South Africa after the government of Zimbabwe torpedoed the deal.
The Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG) and related companies have rolled out infrastructure projects totalling US$350 million in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
According to The Independent, the the province of KwaZulu-Natal authorised Nyanza Light Metals and DIDG to set up a US$263 million (R4 billion) titanium dioxide pigment plant in Richards Bay. Part of the correspondence reads:
<blockquote>The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs has authorised the above-mentioned project.
By virtue of the powers conferred on it by the National Environmental Management Act and the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, the KwaZulu Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs grants environmental authorisation to Nyanza Light Metals to undertake the following activities …</blockquote>
Back in 2017, DIDG was awarded the multi-million dollar tender by the government to revive the NRZ but the deal collapsed after Transport minister <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/Joel_Biggie_Matiza" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Joel Biggie Matiza’s</a> intervention.
<h4>More: <a href="https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2020/02/28/nrz-investor-takes-money-to-sa/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Independent</a></h4>

Govt Pushes Investor To Take Money To South Africa

Diaspora Investment group has accused the Transport Minister of deliberately lying to the cabinet just to scuttle the NRZ recapitalisation project the Standard reports.
The matter was revealed by DIDG’s Chimhandamba who said they will take legal action against the minister:
<blockquote>His actions are unlawful and cannot go unchallenged, we intend to pursue this to the end. We are going to take legal action against Matiza in his personal capacity for abuse of government office as we can demonstrate that he employed malicious falsehoods to advance a personal agenda.
It is shamefully dishonest for him to claim that we did not provide proof of funding when NRZ has already acknowledged, in writing, that it received the proof of funding and sent the same to Treasury for verification.The question is why Matiza is so desperate to scuttle this project that he went to the extent of lying to cabinet and the people of Zimbabwe.</blockquote>
Joel Biggie Matiza has already <a href="https://news.pindula.co.zw/2019/11/17/lessons-were-learnt-from-didg-transnet-project-as-matiza-orders-nrz-to-re-tender/">ordered NRZ to re-tender</a> its recapitalisation project.
More: <a href="https://www.thestandard.co.zw/2019/12/01/minister-lied-scuttle-deal/">The Standard </a>

DIDG Accuses JB Matiza Of Deliberately Misleading Cabinet In A Bid To Scuttle The NRZ Recapitalisation Project

Transport Minister, Joel Biggie Matiza has ordered the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) to retender the US$400 million National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) recapitalisation project after the <a href="https://news.pindula.co.zw/2019/10/17/govt-cancels-us400-million-didg-nrz-deal/">collapse of the deal with the Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG).</a>
The deal was cancelled after DIDG allegedly failed to provide proof of funding before the agreed deadline as well as excluding Transnet, which was part of the consortium.
Speaking after Cabinet has resolved to invite new suitors for the project, Matiza said:
<blockquote>Given the urgency of the matter, I hereby invite the NRZ board and management to come up with revised draft RFP (request for proposal) and TORs (terms of reference), including action plan for the implementation of the cabinet directive taking into consideration the lessons learnt from the DIDG-Transnet project to date, the prevailing situation in the railways sector as well as the general economic and financial environment in the market.</blockquote>
The project was meant to revive the NRZ which is currently in a devastated state due to the economic meltdown which ravaged Zimbabwe a decade ago.
Meanwhile, DIDG is exploring legal options in light of the termination of its bid.
More: <a href="https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2019/11/16/matiza-orders-nrz-deal-re-tender/">Zimbabwe Independent</a>

"Lessons Were Learnt From DIDG-Transnet Project," As Matiza Orders NRZ To Re-tender

The government is sharply divided following Cabinet’s decision to cancel the US$400 million <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/National_Railways_Of_Zimbabwe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ)</a> recapitalisation deal won by a consortium involving the Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG) and Transet (a South African rail, ports and pipeline utility). The deal has also reportedly sucked in the military.
According to The Independent, there are two rival groups pitting Foreign Affairs and International Trade minister <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/Sibusiso_Moyo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sibusiso Moyo</a> and Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza. The publication quotes its sources as saying:
<blockquote>He (Matiza) reported that it is not ideal to have a neighbouring country invest in such a strategic state enterprise. He claimed the army’s concern was that in case of mutual hostilities, the deal would leave the country extremely vulnerable since South Africa would be having knowledge and control over our systems and signals.</blockquote>
Government spokesperson, <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/Nick_Mangwana" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nick Mangwana</a> on Tuesday released a statement in which he stated that cabinet had terminated the multi-million dollar deal.
However, DIDG on Thursday issued its own counter-statement, saying it has not yet received any communication from NRZ, therefore legally, the deal has not been cancelled.
<h3>More: <a href="https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2019/10/18/us400m-nrz-deal-divides-ministers/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Independent</a></h3>

US$400m NRZ-DIDG Deal Divides Cabinet, Sucks In The Military - Report

The Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG) has responded to the <a href="https://news.pindula.co.zw/2019/10/17/govt-cancels-us400-million-didg-nrz-deal/">cancellation of the US400 million deal they had with the National Railways of Zimbabwe</a> that was meant to rehabilitate the railway parastatal of Zimbabwe.
The head of DIDG, Donovan Chimhandamba, signalled on Wednesday that his company could take legal action. He said:
<blockquote>We have noted the official statement from a few government authorities. We have been dealing with such malice for the last 18 months and they had managed to hide behind various issues. Last week it was about funding, now it’s about Transnet. None of these parties has communicated anything to us, which we find disturbing. However, we remain resolute to our cause and strictly reserve our rights.</blockquote>
The government whilst terminating the deal said that DIDG’s exclusion of Transnet had a legal impact on the tender which was awarded to them as a partnership.
Meanwhile, the government has indicated that it will soon be advertising a new tender to potential clients.
More: <a href="https://newzwire.live/off-track-didg-claims-malice-after-zimbabwe-cancels-nrz-transnet-deal/">NewzWire Live</a>

DIDG Responds To Govt's Termination Of US$400M Deal With NRZ

Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG), a consortium of investors, partnered South Africa’s Transnet in 2017 and won the $400 million tender to revive the National Railways of Zimbabwe. Below are excerpts from an interview between NewsDay (ND) reporter Mthandazo Nyoni and DIDG executive chairman Donovan Chimhandamba (DC) to understand why the deal’s takeoff was delayed. 
<blockquote>ND: What is your comment on Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza’s statement that the deal has hit a funding snag?
<div class="code-block code-block-2">
<div data-google-query-id="CLnttJiJs-ICFZWnGwod2nsAQw" id="div-gpt-ad-newsday.co.zw_750x300_300x250">
<div id="google_ads_iframe_/52555387/newsday.co.zw_750x300_300x250_0__container__">DC: The term sheets are there. They were presented to government, through the minister in October last year and recently in February 2019, banks had expressed +/- $900 million, but since then, we have received more term sheets with the latest arriving a few days ago and all from market-leading institutions that include ABSA, Nedbank, Standard Bank, Ecobank, TDB, IDC (South Africa) and CBZ. We are now in the process of appointing a lead arranger from among the interested institutions to convert the term sheets into binding term sheets. This is a typical process which requires certain agreements that the three parties are busy concluding. So it is incorrect to say there is no funding.</div>
</div>
</div>
While it is important to note that the framework agreement (FA) was seen as essential by the parties, it is not a generic construct of the Zimbabwe National Procurement Act (SPB/PRAZ) and Ministry of Finance Joint Venture Act process and thus does not encumber the actual tender award to the DIDG-Transnet Consortium, it is a holding agreement which provides the “framework” within which the parties sought to work to accomplish a set of itemised activities within agreed timeframes.
In view of the activities that are still outstanding under the FA, Transnet-DIDG Consortium requested and obtained approval for the extension of the agreement for a further period of six months, which is up to August 14 2019, to enable the parties to conclude the required activities and ensure that all project agreements are in place.
<div class="code-block code-block-3"></div>
ND: Why has it taken so long for the deal to be concluded?
DC: There are regulatory approvals that are required for government entities such as Transnet that they need to obtain and such processes have prescribed Acts and timelines that they actually have to follow. Large complex deals of this nature must follow due process which itself necessarily takes time. Tied into this are all the other transaction agreements we need to conclude which the legal teams are finalising.
ND: Are you optimistic that the deal would be concluded within six months extension period that have been given?
DC: We remain positive and optimistic that we will close the transaction and we are on the ground to cover the gaps.</blockquote>
<div class="relpost-thumb-wrapper">
<div class="">
More: <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/2019/05/nrz-deal-to-be-finalised-soon-didg/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NewsDay</a>
</div>
</div>

Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG) Latest News

Latest Jobs