EXCLUSIVE: Grace Mugabe in Tax Scandal
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EXCLUSIVE: Grace Mugabe in Tax Scandal

Former First Lady Grace Mugabe avoided paying tax for her companies, homes and toll gates charges during a time when her late national hero Robert was in power, theZimbabwenewslive can reveal.

Grace Marufu and late Robert Mugabe, owners of Gushungo Holdings with interests in dairy, did not pay taxes amounting to over US$1 million between 2011 and 2017.

According to the documents seen by this publication, between 2011  and 2017, letters from Gushungo Holdings Ltd, Grace Mugabe Children’s Home, Mwenewazvo Estate, Chishawasha School, Amai Mugabe Junior School and Borrowdale Residence were sent out by a General Manager only known as  S.Nhari to the then President Robert Mugabe asking for tax exemptions. Mugabe would, in turn, grant permission.

Other letters were sent by Farai Jemwa, an administrator at Grace Mugabe Foundation who sought assistance to remove the vehicle whose details are listed below from Diplomatic to civilian use.

“We also seek your authority to include the same vehicle on toll fees exemption and in the alternative the Mazowe tollgate as it commutes between Harare and Mazowe every day.

MAKE                                    HYUNDAI

MODEL                                 AZERA

BODY TYPE                         SEDAN

COLOUR                               BLACK

ENGINE NUMBER            G6DB9A385360

CHASIS NUMBER             KMHFC41DMAA469271”, Jemwa wrote.

Contacted for comment ZIMRA Head Corporate Communications, Francis Chimanda told thezimbabwenewslive.com  “Tax matters are confidential, thus we unable to comment on taxpayer specific issues.

We are however mandated by the law to check on compliance with the tax law including checking on any areas of abuse. We will thus as a matter of standard practice check on compliance with all the tax laws”

Most recently, on 08 OCTOBER 2018 MS L.M Nyanhongo wrote to DR Ray NDHLUKULA , who is the Chief Secretary to ED Mnangagwa requesting for VAT exemption for the Grace Mugabe Children’s Home.

Prior to Mnangagwa takeover, Grace would seek exemptions direct from her husband.

RE: REQUEST FOR VAT EXEMPTION

Your Excellency, we hereby submit a request for VAT exemption for the following materials required at the Grace Mugabe Children’s Home, a charitable foundation established by The Former President of the Republic of Zimbabwe Cde R.G Mugabe and the Former First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe to look after orphans and the underprivileged children in society.

NO. SUPPLIER DESCRIPTION AMOUNT Excl. VAT (USD)
  Dulux 40 x 20litres wall guard white paint and 50 x 2olitres acrylic roof black paint $11,016.40
  Sino-Zimbabwe Cement 18,000 x 50kg masonry cement plus delivery $170,086.96
  Beta Concrete 285,000 x interlocking plain 10,000 x interlocking red 36,000 x mendip black 20,000 x tapered ridges $16,814.00

In April 2019, President Mnangagwa’s government stopped funding dozens of pupils attending Grace Mugabe’s private school under the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (Stem) programme after it emerged that the school controversially benefited from the state-sponsored initiative.

At the time, Government said it was paying fees totalling US$3 800 per term for each of the 18 pupils enrolled at Amai Mugabe High School under the Stem programme.

The Stem programme was meant to benefit pupils attending government, council and mission schools but not elite private schools. A maximum fee the government was required to pay was US$1200 per child per term.

In a year government was paying Amai Mugabe High School a total of US$205 200 for the 18 students for three terms.

Following the withdrawal, the government advised parents to either pay for the fees individually or look for affordable schools for the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef) to continue to pay.

There was no comment from Bona Mugabe, who is the Principal of these Companies.

Below is a documentary on Grace Mugabe:

Below is a snapshot of some of the materials they sought exemptions from:

11 January 2012

# Description   Supplier Price Excl. VAT ($)
1 Gushungo Dairy cement & aggregates Chishawasha School. Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe 122 939.20
2 Grace Mugabe Children’s home cement Orphanage Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe 119 560.00
3 Packaging pallets ALPHA OMEGA Motox Enterprises P/L 5 775.00
4 Printing signage ALPHA OMEGA Rintam Trading P/L 3 390.00
5 Joint sealant in factory ALPHA OMEGA Specialised Flooring Services 1 413.75
6 Roof coverings (Dairy Plant) ALPHA OMEGA City Roofing Contractors P/L 15 367.39

31 January 2012

# Description   Supplier Price Excl. VAT ($)
1 Grace Mugabe Children’s home cement Orphanage Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe 27 615.35
2 Grace Mugabe Children’s home rhino boards and plaster Orphanage BPG Gypsum 18 730.43

10 February 2012

# Description Supplier Price Excl. VAT US($)
1 Kitchen extraction hood Optional Air (Pvt) Ltd 9 850.00
2 Steel window frame Monarch Steel 672.16
3 Lawn irrigation Waterwright Irrigation 16 394.00

11 April 2012

# Description Supplier Price Excl. VAT US$
1 Cement for Grace Mugabe Children’s Home Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe 22 308.00
2 Fittings for Mwenewazvo Pivot Warapp Engineering 17 292.00
3 PVC Pipes for Mwenewazvo Pivot Proplastics 60 405.00

06 September 2012

# Supplier Details Description of materials Price Excl. VAT US$
1 Natprint, Box ST83, Southerton Printed stationery 5 546.17
2 Destiny Electronics, 62 Mutare Road, Harare  Supply & installation of PABX 3 733.10
3 Barco Chemicals, P O Box ST375. Southerton. Supply of antiseptic for sanitation 209.00
4 Payroll Marketing, P O Box CR 183, Cranborne Supply of laboratory consumables 1 341.00
5 Fabco Harare Cleaning mops 113.04
6 Graphtec Communications 8 Victoria Drive, Newlands Supply of films for labels 472.50
7 Barco Chemicals. P O  Box ST 375, Southerton Supply of perasan sterillant 1 152.50
8 Flexo Solutions, No. 10A Spurrier Road, New Ardbennie Supply of 250 ml sachet films 2 480.00
9 Total Tech,  P O Box ST479, Southerton Supply of laboratory consumables & calibration 394.00
10 Blue Steel Water T/A Standfast Contractors 17 Halford Road, Greystone Park Supply and installation of booster pump 31 785.00
# Supplier Details Description of materials Price Excl. VAT US$
11 Image Magic Promotions 103 Broadlands Road Emerald Hill Supply of promotional materials 6 755.00
12 Dandew Investments T/A Industrial Chemical Centre P O Box M279 Malbereign Water conditioner 119 3 850.00
13 Zimbabwe Safes & Engineering P O Box ST 330, Southerton Lockable safe boxes 2 830.00
14 Packrite. P O Box 188, Amby, Hre New red labels 2 902.74

07 September 2012

# Supplier Details Description of materials Price Excl. VAT US$
1 Bluegold Drilling 34 Edison Crescent Graniteside Borehole drilling and equipment 5 220.00
2 Lafarge Cement P O Box GD 160 Greendale Supply of quarry stones and cement 69 996.33
3 Lafarge Cement P O Box GD 160 Greendale Supply of 30 Tons cement 6 192.00
4 Steelbase P O Box 2957 Harare Supply of reinforcement steel bars 6 725.55

19 October 2012

Supplier Description Ref Description Amt Inc VAT US$ Amt Exc VAT US$
Architectural Alluminium CM1210 For Glazzed  rooflights 15 500.00 13 175.00
Rocha Granite 932/12 Main House Extension 14 300.83 12 435.50
Leisure Living   Swimming pool modification 2 693.00 2 289.05
SteelBase Granite 46702 Brickforce 948.29 824.60
SteelBase Granite 48683 Reinforced Bar and Bailing wire 5 673.94 4 993.86
Frog Cables IN140484 Cables 25 933.43 22 550.81
Restapedic Bedding INA20519 Beds 1 483.85 1 290.30
Longman Zimbabwe IVQ23271 Books 56 183.05 48 854.65
College Press publisher 200003318 Books 20 157.75 17 528.48
TOTAL     142 874.14 123 942.25

theZimbabwenewslive.com

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