A FESTIVE season initiative to support vulnerable groups in Bulawayo’s ward 17 turned violent when a contracted supplier failed to deliver paid goods before assaulting his clients who had facilitated the donations after they had made a follow-up.
Rodrick Moyo, sustainability manager at Hualin Investments, a quarry mining company, narrated the ordeal, which began on December 18 when his team purchased 400 bags of mealie-meal from Daily Harvest (Pvt) Ltd in Kelvin.
The mealie-meal was intended for distribution to people with disabilities and the elderly in ward 17, where the quarry mining company operates.
The supplier assured them that all 400 bags would be ready for collection the following day.
However, when Moyo and his team arrived on Thursday, only 200 bags were available.
“The supplier promised to deliver the remaining 200 bags by the end of the day, but he failed to do so,” Moyo said.
“He kept making excuses, such as electricity issues and grinding challenges, which we found unconvincing.”
The shortfall has since disrupted the food distribution exercise.
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While hampers were successfully delivered to beneficiaries in St Peters, Mazvi Village, Robert Sinyoka Village, Pumula South, and Methodist, residents of Pumula North were left waiting.
“Many of the individuals affected were the elderly or disabled, making it difficult for them to repeatedly gather,” Moyo said.
“To ensure we fulfilled our commitment, we engaged another supplier to provide the remainder of the hampers, but we remained determined to hold the initial supplier accountable.”
According to Moyo, on December 21, he and other community members and ward development committee representatives visited the milling factory in Kelvin to follow up on the remaining 200 bags.
Upon arrival, a security guard accidentally dislodged a wheel from the factory gate while letting them in.
This enraged the supplier’s manager, Mike Ncube, who accused the group of damaging the property.
“Ncube aggressively confronted us and then physically attacked Herbert Mabeza, one of our managers,” Moyo explained.
“Mabeza sustained scratches on his face and an injury on the eye. When I tried to intervene and apologise, I was also assaulted.
“The violence prompted Hualin Investments to file a case with Western Commonage Police.
“The issue of the outstanding balance of 200 bags is now being handled by law enforcement agents.
“Vulnerable members of our community were counting on these hampers and we cannot allow such behaviour to go unpunished.”
He added that on December 22, Ncube called Hualin Investments’ management and delivered 100 bags, leaving another 100 undelivered.
However, Moyo revealed that the delivered bags were below standard weight.
“The bags weighed only 8,3kg or 8,5kg instead of the normal 10kg weight,” Moyo said.
Contacted for a comment, Ncube, the Daily Harvest manager, dismissed the allegations saying they were not true .
“What happened is on the day when they paid, we told them that we don’t have maize and that these days, there are a lot of queues at the border,” Ncube said.
“So we gave them 200 bags. We then got another 100 bags and gave them and I am surprised when they say they got only 200 bags.”
He said they had told Hualin representatives that their trucks were stuck at the border.
“So now, we owe them only 100 bags and it’s not because it is our wish, but a challenge that we are facing since our trucks are stuck at the border,” Ncube said.
“You can even come and check from our CCTV, they came here and broke the gate, which then resulted in a fight with the security.
“They were now hiding under the fact that they broke the gate . . . The police came and checked and saw the gate was broken and saw the CCTV footage.”
