Several business deals signed by City of Harare (CoH) with private investors are under scrutiny following damning allegations of serious misconduct by some of the City’s business associates.
In particular, many councillors are now demanding an inquiry into CoH’s agreements with Augur Investments after ongoing court cases against Augur revealed various instances of dubious dealings. Following these revelations, Council’s Business Committee recently tasked Acting Town Clerk Josephine Ncube with investigating the operations of the joint ventures, and compiling a report amid concerns over the implementation of business agreements.
In 2013 CoH and Augur Investments set up a joint venture company called Sunshine Developments (Pvt) Ltd to handle various projects, including the construction of the Harare International Airport Road. The city has allegedly already transferred over 700 hectares of land valued at between $15–20 million to Augur as payment for a project that ultimately, was never completed.
The Airport Road project has long been mired in dispute. The deal was originally signed in 2008 and was expected to take five years to complete, in time for the UNWTO conference in 2013.
In addition to allegedly not meeting their end of the deal, minutes from a meeting of the council’s Business Committee also suggest that Augur was awarded the contract without it going to tender. In response, Augur accused the council and service providers such as ZESA of delaying the project. They claimed to have spent $20 million by the time they halted work, and that they no longer had the funds to complete the job. The council in turn accused Augur of over-pricing aspects of the construction and of failing to meet the specified conditions – in particular, of failing to complete the project within the agreed time frame.
After several years of disputes culminating in an acrimonious court case, Council terminated Augur’s Airport Road contract and handed the project over to the Department of Roads Management. To date, the road is still incomplete – eight years after the contract with Augur was signed.
Councillor Peter Moyo, chairperson of council’s Business Committee, confirmed to Harare News that Augur Investments were given tracts of land in Harare as part-payment for the road project. Moyo described Augur Investments’ subsequent undertakings under the agreements with the council as fraudulent.
“They don’t act in good faith. They don’t comply with what is agreed upon. The initial reports submitted to the Business Committee by the Acting Town Clerk show a lot of anomalies,” said Moyo who would not elaborate further. When asked how CoH plans to address the alleged breach of contract by its business partner, the councillor said the matter would be determined by council. In 2014 it suggested that the land transfers might even be reversed once the agreement was dissolved.
Other projects involving Augur Investments include:
The development of the mall on the Borrowdale wetland has been particularly contentious with residents and environmental groups strongly opposed to the project which threatens the vlei and thus the city’s water supply. Construction has already begun in Borrowdale, although there has been little progress. The other projects are pending and under present circumstances, may not get off the ground, in part due to increasing misgivings about whether Sunshine Developments complies with Zimbabwe’s Indigenisation Act. Augur investments holds a 70% stake in the company with CoH holding just 30%. Augur Investments is an Estonian company registered in Mauritius headed by executive chairman Ken Sharpe with local representative and co-director Mike van Blerk.
Image: Ken Sharpe and Mike van Blerk of Augur Investments
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This is Ken Sharpe. Chairman of Augur. Your report is inaccurate and represents irresponsible journalism because neither myself nor Mr Van Blerk were contacted for our comment or side of the story. The fact is that no current investigation exists nor has litigation ever been brought to the courts by the City of Harare or ourselves. Land transferred to Augur for legitimate work done on the airport road received council approval and is above board.
You article is damaging and not reflective of the truth therefore we reserve our rights.
I sincerely hope that the above comment will be published to bring some balance to the publication and truth around it.
Sincerely yours
Ken Sharpe
Augur
It is very disappointing that the City of Harare has been duped by Augur Investments and other so called “partners” yet again.
It is very doubtful indeed that the City will recover anything from Augur.
After all the actual contractor on the airport road, a Harare based company T&C Construction , recently took Augur to court and won a $4.8 million case against Augur.
Augur Inv. OU v Fairclot Inv. (Pvt) Ltd. & Another (HH 175-16 HC 4614/15) [2016] ZWHHC 175 (09 March 2016)
http://zimlii.org/search/site/augur%20investments
Amos – you must stop taking too much from these white people who fight too much about things that don’t matter to our country. who cares if one whitie T&C took Augur to court and won? We want jobs as per Zimasset. Its just about majelously and Rhodesian people who have nothing beter to do with they life than mock others like Markham who has shares in Sam Levy and this paper.
Amos, Amos ,Amos
its always good to have facts as Augur has no issues with the city council. instead of wasting your energy fighting with people that are helping to create something good in Zimbabwe you are busy pulling them down. Am not at all supporting your article as it is so misleading with non factual. The truth is lets not be jeousy about the good deeds of the investors who are willing to change our economy and create employment which we are so in dire need. The airport road you are talking about was taken over by Zinara so instead of saying Augar didnt finish the road ask Zinara and Augar was not even taken to court. honestly lets help build a better Zimbabwe with facts not lies.
These white people fight too much about things that don’t matter to our country. who cares if one whitie T&C took Augur to court and won? We want jobs as per Zimasset. Its just about majelously and Rhodesian people who have nothing beter to do with they life than mock others like Markham who has shares in Sam Levy and this paper.
I am sure the above report causes so much damage on the images of the organisation in question and the people involved. Has the practitioner carried out his/her work professionally and acted responsibly. Generally before publishing media houses or practitioners check for accuracy and fairness (and without distortions). Special care must be taken to check accuracy of the story that may cause harm to individuals or organisation’s image……………all reasonable steps must be taken to ascertain the response of the alleged wrong doer to the allegations……..from the above report it looks like the alleged wrong doer was not contacted for comment before story publication. It looks like this is only one side of the story, there is no balanced view. I know from papers that Augur investments is one of the few investors who are willing and take risks to invest in the country and publishing unfounded allegations on an investor damages reputation and its/his/her ability to source for funding locally or internationally for deal financing……Media institutions or Practitioners must not publish information that is false and maliciously make unfounded allegations about other that are intended to harm their reputations.
Where was this business executive council when all this was happening??………..I don’t think that Augur investments could dupe the council such a huge piece of land considering that our council executives are that educated and take necessary due care before entering into material agreements…unless if the whole business council was sleeping…..the deal is probably above board like Ken Sharpe has stated in his above reply Council before engaging any inventor, like any other effective organisation, must carry out due diligence exercise, background checks…I am sure our learned Councillors did this and decided to engage Augur investments into all these deals.
Augur investments has many times been published in the newspapers, but my only problem is that I never see the end of such stories…it looks like they are only there either to disturb something or to just damage the company’s or the directors’ images…..but why? It looks like the company and its executives are strong though, because they continue to finance mega deals in Zimbabwe…..despite these allegations’ effect on their reputation.
We can’t wait for this much talked about $100m dollar mall………..where $100m is invested surely the nation benefits at large, through employment creation, business for construction companies, input providers, this will boost state revenue from taxation……..the city’s image will be enhanced as well……this project will probably be of world class design and status.
Rather than publishing stories that causes harm to the few investors we have, I think we should in fact support them….were issues arise we should report them with accuracy, fairness and with a balanced view from both side.
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