Sakunda Holdings

In March 2020 Sakunda applied for a got a license to revive two idled private hospitals in Harare - St Anne’s hospital in Avondale, and Rock Foundation Medical Centre in Arundel - so they could be used in government’s Coronavirus response. The development was announced after public outrage over reports that some health facilities in Harare were being reserved for the elite. The government was criticised for working closely with a company that had just 6 months ago had its accounts frozen for corruption-related activities.

In September 2019, Sakunda had its bank accounts frozen by instruction from the RBZ as part of a money-laundering investigation. Some analysts, however, dismissed the move as the government playing mind games as despite the investigations, the company remained government's partner in Command Agriculture programmer and was even involved in distributing inputs the following month using its CBZ bank accounts.

Establishment

Sakunda was established in 2005 by Kudakwashe Tagwirei.^[1][2]

Subsidiaries

Sakunda Energy

Sakunda Energy is responsible for the retailing and commercial business to government, parastatals and corporate clients.^[3]

Sakunda Trading

Sakunda Trading is responsible for the procurement and importation of bulk fuel from reputable international oil traders and wholesale it to Oil Companies and bulk fuel buyers including Sakunda Energy.^[3]

Sakunda Logistics

This is a subsidiary that manages the movement of the fuel from importation to delivery to the eventual consumer.^[3]

Organisation Structure

Events

Trafigura Acquisation

In May 2014 it was announced that Dutch commodities company, Trafigura had acquired Sakunda Energy via its South African subsidiary Puma Energy Africa Holdings where it has a 48.79% stake.^[4][5]

The transaction resulted in the establishment Sakunda Supplies which became Trafigura Zimbabwe, which effectively became a subsidiary of Sakunda Holdings. The purpose of the deal involved the refurbishment of the Feruka-Harare Pipeline.

Under the deal Sakunda owned 51% of the company with Puma owning 49%.^[6]

Trafigura is mentioned on p22 of Cartel Power Dynamics in Zimbabwe under case study 2 The Fuel Cartels.

There is a substantial amount of integration between the fuel retailing and fuel importing businesses. For example, Trafgura owns Puma.

Dema Power Plant

In January 2016, the Zimbabwean government-approved Sakunda's acquisition of 200 mega watt emergency diesel power plant at Dema substation. Sakunda partnered with ARUP, Energyst, Aggreko and Trafigura. The project is to be financed by Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe Holdings, Stanbic Bank and Ecobank. Grant Thornton would come in as project accountants and Mhishi Legal Practice as legal advisors. The project was implemented to deal with Zimbabwe's power crisis that had worsened by decreasing electricity generation at Kariba Power Station due to diminishing water levels at Kariba Dam.^[7]

An alternate version of this approval is interesting. Sakunda did not bid for the contract. According to the Zimbabwe Independent, APR Energy Holdings, the original winner of the contract, “was later sidelined in favour of Sakunda after intervention by the President’s Office”. At the time, Sakunda was owned by a gentleman called Kudakwashe Tagwirei. He was a close associate of the ruling party, ZANU PF. His business partner in the Dema Project project was Derrick Chikore, brother of Simba Chikore, husband to Bona Mugabe, the then President Robert Mugabe’s daughter.

It is important to note that Sakunda had no previous experience in the business of power generation. One of the tender requirements was that the successful bidder had to demonstrate experience in the field of power generation. After APR Holdings won the tender, they inexplicably lost it and it was given to Sakunda. So Sakunda sub-contracted a British multinational called Aggreko plc, which has vast experience in the business. Sakunda hired Aggreko’s services for equipment and technical expertise to set up and run the project.

Aggreko had participated in the tender process, and had therefore lost the bid to its American rival, APR. Tender documents showed Aggreko were “initially disqualified because the ‘bidder is non-compliant with mandatory technical requirements of the request for proposal’”. The winner had lost and the loser had now taken the contract, albeit indirectly, through Sakunda. Sakunda had won the contract in an irregular way. Aggreko formally announced to the stock market that it had won a three-year contract with Sakunda. Sakunda, not ZESA, was its client.

At the time, it was said that ZESA would have to pay US$8 million in advance every month, for a period of at least 3 years. The Dema Project would produce electricity at a massive cost of 15.04c/kWh – very expensive compared to hydroelectricity at Kariba, which cost 4.11c/kWh, and thermal power from the Hwange Thermal Power Station, which was priced at 6.97c/kWh. Even imports were far cheaper with imports from Zambia costing 5.18c/kWh, and 5.66c/kWh from Mozambique’s Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB). This is why ZESA had applied for an increase in tariffs by 49% - a cost to the consumer.

Moreover, under the deal, Sakunda would provide fuel for the project. But it had a special concession which meant it would import duty-free fuel. That’s no taxes at all.

It later emerged that Sakunda had been bought by another multinational, Trafigura, which has a heavy presence in the fuel procurement and distribution business. But Tagwirei has remained closely associated with the company which has been lauded as a key partner in the Command Agriculture programme, in respect of which Mnangagwa claims and is given much credit. ^{[8] [9]}

Command Agriculture

Kudakwashe Tagwirei at His Father's funeral

Sakunda was the largest conduit of controversial government funding for agriculture, under Command Agriculture.

In September 2019, the IMF warned Zimbabwe that state payouts to Sakunda were having negative effects on the economy and pushing the deterioration of the local currency the ZWL. The payouts which were for the Command Agriculture were reportedly met by printing money. Sakunda received $366m in government bonds as payments for "supplying" Command Agriculture. When Sakunda redeemed some of the bonds, the payouts were made in Zimbabwe dollars at an exchange rate that translated into money printing. The redemptions led to an 80 percent surge in Zimbabwe’s monetary base.^[10]

Money Laundering and Bank Account Freeze

In September 2019, Sakunda Holdings' bank accounts in Zimbabwe were frozen by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's Finacial Intelligence Unit. The move followed a warning by the IMF to the government that payouts to Sakunda were pushing the economy to the brink.

In a letter to local financial institutions dated 19 September 2019, the RBZ directed the institutions to freeze the company's accounts with immediate effect. Other companies that also had their bank accounts frozen along with Sakunda are Access Finance, Spartan Security and Croco Motors.^[11]

RBZ directs banks to freeze the accounts of Sakunda, Access Finance and Croco Motors

The move by RBZ was reported to be part of a war over the forex black market.^[12]

In October, state-controlled newspaper, The Herald, reported that Sakunda was disbursing inputs to the Command Agriculture programme through CBZ. This was despite the apparent account freeze.^[13]

Prominent academic and political analyst, Alex Magaisa referred to the bank account freeze and investigation as just government playing mind games:

They think we are fools. Perhaps we are. Recall they said Sakunda’s accounts were frozen? Now The Herald on Command Agriculture, “Shiri said CBZ through its co-operative partner Sakunda has started distributing inputs to the various parts of the country...” Bayahlanya sibili “Where such facilities may not be available then Sakunda can move inputs to GMB depots ...” adds The Herald. So we have a company allegedly being investigated by government for suspected money-laundering but it’s still a big partner in the same government’s flagship program?^[14]

Sanctions

Sakunda was added on the sanctions list together with Kudakwashe Tagwirei on 5 August 2020 by the United States for supporting the Emmerson Mnangagwa led Government of Zimbabwe programmes which are viewed as contributing to lack of respect for human rights.

Rufaro Stadium

In November 2022, Dynamos Football Club was critical of the state of Rufaro Stadium in Mbare. An agreement between Harare City Council and Sakunda Holdings had a deal to refurbish Rufaro Stadium, however the company withdrew from the partnership due to “untruthful and malicious allegations” emanating from the local authority. ^[15]

In March 2023, pictures were shown of the refurbishment of Rufaro Stadium in Mbare by Harare City Council. It is the second biggest stadium and is generally regarded as Zimbabwe‘s home of football. ^[16]

References