A little known Car Wash business based in Kabwata, Lusaka has landed a US$ 1 million contract to deliver 46 brand new 4×4 vehicles to the Judiciary.
Burma Car Wash which also trades as Sarago General Dealers snatched the lucrative deal after beating well established motor vehicle firms such as Toyota Zambia, Southern Cross Motors and Hazida Motors including Tata Zambia.
Investigations have revealed that Sarago General Dealers is owned by Businessman Chiza Gondwe, a close associate of Kabwata Member of Parliament and Justice Minister Given Lubinda.
The Judiciary falls under the Ministry of Justice.
According to tender documents seen by Lusaka Times, Judiciary Chief Procurement and Supplies Officer Patrick Mwale wrote in a notice that Sarago General Dealers was the best evaluated bidder for the supply of 46 4×4 Double Cab motor vehicles after it offered 1,012,000.00 as the total bid sum.
According to the tender requirements, Sarago General Dealers is to deliver the said vehicles within two to four weeks from November 10th, the date on which the tender was awarded.
But investigations have revealed that the awarding of a huge contract to a Car Wash business has shocked people in the car industry in Lusaka.
One insider revealed that all the major players in the industry are shocked that a company with no track record in delivering huge vehicle supply contracts could be entrusted with a million-dollar public contract.
The source added Sarago General Dealers intends to supply Mitsubishi Double Cabs although Mitsubishi suppliers in Zambia have expressed ignorance over the order.
Further investigations revealed that Sarago mainly deals in second hand vehicles and also run a Car Hire business including a Fitment Centre all based in Kabwata.
A brand new Double Cab sells at the market price of around US$ 32,000 meaning government would need to spend over 1.4 million dollars to procure the 46 vehicles, which was well over the contract sum.
Pix: Part of the fleet owned by Sarago General Dealers used in the Car Hire business found packed at Burma Car Wash.
Ba pompwe ba mwibila nsala
They are at it again! Ba pompwe ba mwibila nsala.
I am one of Sarago’s satisfied clients and our organisation has purchased 40 BRAND NEW vehicles from this firm. I say a big thumbs up and he delivers very fast. Probably within a week.
We are tired …VERY TIRED !
That is what happens when idi*ts at Toyota Zambia think they are a monopoly and can overcharge Government and Zambians on vehicles which are much cheaper in neighboring countries like Namibia and South Africa and evening much cheaper if ordered direct from Japan
It’s ridiculous to have Toyota Zambia dealership when it’s just a trading name of crooks. Go to Toyota today and check their prices then go on internet and calculate how much you can order that exact vehicle from the real Toyota in South Africa or Japan
If it’s spare parts it’s worse and sometimes Toyota Zambia orders it’s spares from town center … a spare part worth R5,000 in South Africa is worth K30,000 at Toyota Zambia.
It’s not rocket science, I encourage all to go to Toyota Zambia and compare their prices with…
That’s the PF legacy but God has began to expose them. The Electoral Commission of Zambia machines have started to fail before they could even register 100 voters. They’re being repaired every 10 voters. By the time they reach nine million voters they’d have been repairs almost a million times! Not even the day of national prayer will save them. Just wait and see. Even these vehicles will fail. There’s no way this Car Wash can supply zero Kilometer vehicles when they aren’t dealers and neither are they manufacturers. So these guys have gone back to buying 2nd hand vehicles. Sata almost fired Guy Scott over used vehicles. Most people in PF will end up miserable or in prison
Mr. Mwale, I know you as a great man, don’t be used by these pied crow, there simply putting you in harms way.
Let Sarago supply the vehicles, the money will remain in Zambia let’s learn to support our own.
Strange… Is it illegal for government to buy direct itself?
Ministry of Justice want to buy vehicles.
Minister of Justice is Lubinda.
Dubious Car wash is in Kabwata.
MP of Kabwata is Lubinda.
Broad day robbery.
Am glad most Zambian-owned firms are getting business
Chishimba Kambwili says ba pompwe bamushibila nsala. I honestly don’t understand this at all. Eurobondholders are watching all this.
James Moonga, your argument is not complete. Work out the duties and other taxes payable to government to get the vehicle out of the showroom. And why does government still want to charge VAT on re-traded vehicles which are of course second hand? This has effectively killed this vehicle secondary market in Zambia.
Fire it was Honey Bee that won a pharmastical contract to MOH…people complained they said it was above board only for the company to supply expired medicines now this still Lazy Lungu is quiet.
@Moonga. When you look prices else where, take into account Duties and VAT. That is why civil servants had (not sure if still there) to buy duty free brand new vehicles from Toyota. I do not think anyone can get a brand new vehicle designed for our conditions at a cheaper price than dealers like Toyota. Can see him delivering refabs like the fire tenders. Zambians should indeed be given business but in a transparent way with no suspicion of corruption
Kabwata + Given Lubinda + Ministry of Justice + Car wash do the math….we are fed up….1milloin $ for 46 vehicles are they bulletproof.
What a place….
Be serious people.
You dont need to be an investigator to work out this one; Lubinda is both Justice minister and Kabwata MP some how he is connected in this one…why is Chief Justice quiet? I can bet you they will just import second hand Japanese cars.
If there is no corruption let the zambian firm do it. Why do we hate ourselves bane
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
So what is wrong with a Zambian owned company getting a tender? This PHD syndrome should cease bar fee color!
Jealousy will kill you ba upnd. Show evidence of any impropriety. I am proud a Zambian business has got the contract. At least thr money will circulate in our economy. Ba diaspora you are paying taxes to your colonial masters. So what gives you dogs the right to discuss anything Zambian related. Fuseke!!!
You don’t have to be a car seller to win a contract. Obviously this person has experience selling cars, it shouldn’t be so difficult for him to acquire the cars, most car sellers offer a discount when buying in bulk.
Obviously he knows he can get the cars in that amount, so let him be.
However, we are allowed to speculate on whether this contract was awarded legally.
That’s good, let’s us empowered our own Zambians for such deals. Southern cross, and other dont manufacture vehicles they just order from outside. Congratulations to Sorogo General dealers.
SARAGO IS NOT BURMA CAR WASH
This is what happens when journalist is working for a check unlike when they work for passion and the masses.
Sarago has been selling cars for so many years as a registered private business completely unattached to the car wash business. Why then would you put this tender on the car wash just because both companies are owned by the same individual.
This is shameful because a Zambian is failing celebrate the success of a fellow Zambian and wishing the contract could have been given to a foreign company.
am run a chain of small butcheries in townships.The same accusations will be thrown at me and my business when I get a big meat supply contract as opposed to Zambeef, Kembe etc. Pa ZED!
Wow! This is exciting (or as Kenyans would say, ekzaiting). 46 vehicles at less than $22,000 each! It is good that at last the Zambian government can buy a brand new vehicle cheaper than it costs. GRZ is now saving money.
These guys are now stealing under floodlights when the sun goes down. They have finally realized how useless the population they are presiding over is. No fear, no shame, no remorse. Just brazen kelenka!!!!
But the Judiciary is not part of Ministry of Justice (Executive), that sentence is misleading.
KZ you are twat of the highest order. Thus businessman who is going to supply vehicles where is he going to get from. Does this person manufacture vehicles or is he going to knock on a manufacturer’s door
You are so bloody incompetent saying diasporans paying taxes to it’s colonial masters. I beg to differ, where did Zambia get the Euro bond from, how much aid dues Zambia get for health ministry/ education.
You are just a kaponya, nothing else
Am personally happy. Local is good! Well done government. Just give all tenders of supply to zambians since not manufacturing in any case its trading! Weather high price or Lower so long it’s a zambian company then it’s well.
The article should be titled the Chiza Gondwe Given Lubinda connection.
One million dollars to supply 46 luxury SUVs. When some of us cry about the way the govt spends money on luxury SUVs you dull cretins call us broken records because we repeat the same thing over and over.Now look at this, and meanwhile roads with potholes and no drainage remain in that situation? How can we develop with this kind of mindset my brethren how??? Be it PF or UPND eveyone wants to drive a luxury SUV because we have failed to realise that this false sense of accomplishment to be seen in an expensive car is not real development. I would like to hear HH tell the nation that this culture of govt buying latest SUVs will change if he is elected.
I am usually a fierce critic of this PF GRZ ,
But as long as black Zambians are also getting a share of the pie and are getting exposed to import deals , this money will stay in Zambia.
Would have been better to breakdown the contract to share between 3 or 4 local upstarts.
I am comfortable with this contract.
Support local. The government is saving here. 46 x R500,000 = R23,000,000 = $1,533,333. These must be cheaper Chinese SUV’s. costing less than R200,000 each for him to make a profit.
B4 they even supply we have already started talking negative.Lets see what they are made of.its in public domain.will audit them and citizen arrest will be effected if they mess up
Who cares now? Do we even have a President ?
Some iidiiots are making comments out of gross ignorance, how can a normal person say money will remain in the country? Does your grandfather manufacture vehicles at your farm? What makes you think Toyota or Mitsubishi Japan or RSA will supply these vehicles at a cheaper price to a stranger and deprive themselves of sales and profit? How is this company going to handle warranty and the 20,000km free labor issues, since they are not appointed agents? Another fool compares Soweto prices to Toyota, do you know the overheads that Toyota or Southern Cross is burdened with compared to a Soweto market shop owner who smuggles imitations from Dubai and broken down parts from stolen cars? Please do not try and justify bukabolala when you are ignorant of everything including the value of your own…
balls. All these iidddiiiooottss are doing is stealing, if they manage to supply, it will be used wheel barrows, just like they did with fire tender wheel barrows. Time for reckoning will surely come. If you are a shrewd Zambian, do not allow the corrupt to use you so that you go down with them tom prison next year. Think of your family and the name you may have built over the years.
The Devil is always in the details!
Hmmmm…. car wash.
Do we suppose anything else might be getting “laundered” in this deal?
What wrong with that. If they are able to deliver then it’s fine. Empower local business… Toyota money goes to Japan, hazda, Japan, honda Japan, tata india, higer china
In terms of the non corrupt, Toyota Zambia would have been the best of the choices. Even if this was not corrupt, the fact that it is a friend of the kabwata MP, also justice minister is wrong all the way. The juridical procurement branch should be given this authority with observation of the auditor generals office.
What a bunch of thieves these PF!!!
Donors need to stop funding these thieves
If the headline is correct how can a car supply tender go to a car wash?
Kabwata Car Wash wins US$ 1 million tender to supply 46 4×4 vehicles!!!
Shouldnt the carwash tender for cleaning judges’cars?
Have been exporting vehicles to Zambia in more than 12 years. Vehicles from Europe or Japan can never arrive in Zambia less than 30 days.
Judiciary to receive vehicles within 2 weeks or 30 days is the normal deception Zambians are used to hera. Zambia does not own shipping flight for express shipping to meet the delivery deadline. Zambians brace for another scandal in the offing.
Scouser ndiwe pwazee yoyuuma
This is very interesting regardless that a car wash won tender but it brings to question the pricing of new vehicles by the established suppliers! This whole matter should be of investigation interest not to find fault in the award of tender but to help ascertain why goods are generally out of reach for most Zambians! I however have reservations on how the tender was finally awarded but that most of us are not privy to all information, giving it the benefit of doubt is fair for it could really be a clean transaction. Good for owners of the carwash and employees!
This is good, empowering local businesses!! This should be a wake up call to those companies with ridiculous prices, an ordinary Zambian cannot even afford to buy a Camry vehicle from Toyota Zambia, and yet it’s just a Toyota brand!!!! Let the competition with them begin.
Seems the upnd and regime change strategy has lost steam. This report was expected to generate euphoria against the PF GRZ. But it has flopped as Zambians are adept to reality not the hogwash and lies upnd tries to feed them. Just like when Bill 10 failed, upnd expected huge euphoria from citizens to celebrate with them but awe shuwa. Zambians are tired of your lies, upnd. Get rid of that oval headed twit and move forward.
Vote the crooks OUT!
This is more to do with the connections involved. Only those in the PF friends/bootlicking/inner circles benefit from contracts. The ‘circulation of the money’ is not among the ordinary Zambians, it’s within the who knows who spectrum – that’s been the order of the day. If government procured some items directly, or issued transparent tenders, people like Lubinda and his SARAGO friend would lose out. There is no level playing field, just as in politics, with this regime. This is also just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how the PF cohort has enriched itself over the years. By the way, as a matter of information, why does the judiciary suddenly need 46 4×4 vehicles?
Why are they not a million a piece ba kabova imwe ?
We need to learn to support and promote Zambian entrepreneurs. If the Zambian company met all tender procedures, why not award them?
Anyone familiar with tender procedures will tell you that many times well established companies fall out on technicalities.