Businessman Wicknell Chivayo
By Staff Reporter
The Supreme Court this Friday upheld the High Court ruling which ordered the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) to pay businessman Mr Wicknell Chivayo and his company Intratrek Zimbabwe US$22 million for breach of contract.
Justices Joseph Musakwa and George Chiweshe handed down a brief judgment insisting that Chivayo did not commit any crime hence the High Court was right in it’s ruling that it was ZPC who was at fault.
The case is rooted in a 2014 ZPC tender which was awarded to Intratrek to construct a 100-megawatt solar plant in Gwanda. However, a dispute later arose, with ZPC alleging that the solar power company and its managing director had committed fraud.
This led to the project stalling and Mr Chivayo was initially arrested on allegation of fraud after an outcry in the media and Parliament that his company had fraudulently gotten the tender and failed to deliver. However the Prosecution and courts concluded that Mr Chivayo had not committed any crime. After winning the case, Mr Chivayo proceeded to sue ZPC, and the High Court granted his application.
But ZPC appealed against the High Court decision, a bid which has hit a brick wall, with the latest ruling insisting that ZPC must pay Chivayo.
