Govt blacklists 13 contractors for fuelling black market – NewZimbabwe.com

By Alois Vinga

FINANCE Minister, Mthuli Ncube has blocked 13 companies from supplying government with any services or products after investigations revealed they are passing the ZW$ they earn to the black market.

The development comes at a time when the local currency has depreciated to  ZW$1 300:US$1 in recent weeks with market speculators blaming government for failing to time payments made to their contractors who have developed a tendency of chasing after foreign currency on the parallel market.

In a statement Monday, the treasury boss confirmed the market’s suspicions underscoring that such conduct derails economic stability efforts.

He said government remains concerned to note the continuation of indecorous behaviour by some companies who continue to fuel illegal parallel market activities.

Ncube said this waters down government efforts towards the stabilisation of the local currency and containment of inflation, thereby pervading the economy at the expense of the generality of citizens of Zimbabwe as he highlighted that such behaviour cannot be condoned.

“A total of 13 companies have been identified by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) as being involved in this unlawful conduct.

“Having monitored various financial transactions with a view to plug parallel market dealings, the FIU has observed that these companies are siphoning their proceeds to the parallel market, thus, triggering domestic inflationary pressures,” he said.

As a result, Ncube said government has blacklisted the 13 companies so as to maintain stability in the foreign currency market and curb inflation.

“In the same vein, the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe will be advised to permanently remove the entities from the list of potential service providers to government.

“Government remains committed to maintaining price stability, restoring market discipline and engendering market confidence,” he added.

The list of the blacklisted companies is as follows;

1. Casha Designs Pvt Ltd.
2. Re-net Technology Pvt Ltd.
3. Malfran Investments Pvt Ltd.
4. Difflock Construction Pvt Ltd.
5. Staman Investments Pvt Ltd.
6. Guide Marketing Pvt Ltd.
7. Nodship Investments Pvt Ltd.
8. Infinity Hire Pvt Ltd.
9. Nomalanga Marketing Pvt Ltd.
10. Gif Mwayera  t/a Mwayera Transport Pvt Ltd.
11. Mukot Haulage and Buses Pvt Ltd.
12. Ofixmore Marketing Pvt Ltd.
13. Blecia Investments.