Treasury chief splurges on upmarket properties

Guvamatanga’s unaccounted for massive wealth and properties

NATHAN GUMA

MINISTRY of Finance permanent secretary George Guvamatanga has bought a series of upmarket residential properties in South Africa, raising moral, ethical and accountability questions as a senior public official known to be close to top businesspeople for whom he facilitates payments from Treasury.

An investigation by The NewsHawks into Guvamatanga’s property holdings reveals a trail of unexplained wealth and potential corruption, given his failure to declare and convincingly explain his wealth, as well as proximity to top businesspeople for whom he facilitates payments from Treasury.

Investigations show Guvamatanga has a catalogue of lavish properties in leafy Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban suburbs as an individual, through co-ownership and via fronting.

That is over and above his vast portfolio in Harare, including his imposing Chisipite home and Ballantyne Park private offices. In Johannesburg alone, The NewsHawks discovered that Guvamatanga has 12 houses around the same areas, mostly in Dainfern Golf Estate and surrounding places, Fourways, Randburg and Sandton wealthy suburbs, two of which are registered in relatives’ names.

The prices of the properties range from R720 000 to R6.3 million each. Records obtained by The NewsHawks during the investigation show details of the properties’ values, sizes and locations, as well as ownership and title deed numbers.

The addresses of 12 Johannesburg properties are:

No. 973 Woodchester, Dainfern Gold Estate, worth R4.9 million, which Guvamatanga jointly owns with Hazvinei Chawatama;

19 Port De Bouc Avenue, Dainfern (R2.9 million);

708 Sandleford Close, Dainfern (R5.6 million);

13 Morena Crescent, Dainfern (R3 million);

13 Via Garibaldi Lane, Piccolo Italia Estate, Kengies (R1.6 million which is registered under Vimbai Guvamatanga;

26 Garibaldi Lane, Kengies (Kengies Ext. 14) (R1.5 million);

7 Dorstone Crescent, Maroeladal Needwood Ext. 5, (R6.3 million) under Vimbai Guvamatanga and Evans Kudakwashe Mupandawana;

Fourways Ext. 253340, sectional title SS Borgo De Felice (R1.3 million);

Broadacres, sectional title SS Soho Junction – 628/2017 (R964 000); 435 Cork Avenue, Ferndale, under Munyoro Guvamatanga and Sharon Tsitsi Taenzanisa Guvamatanga (R720 000);

Glenferness, sectional title (R850 000);

and another Glenferness property, sectional title (R850 000).

Located northeast of Johannesburg, Dainfern, a private residential estate, has beautiful homes, a top-notch golf course, luxurious clubhouse, restaurants, bars, members’ lounge, conference facilities and two swimming pools.

The other Guvamatanga houses are in Fourways, Kengies, Randburg and Sandton, which are all close to Dainfern.

Dainfern, the second-oldest golf estate in South Africa, is vast enough to be considered a suburb of Sandton on its own, with more than 1 200 homes centred around a Gary Player golf course.

The lavish lifestyle estate has nature trails, parks, sports facilities, and school, while the broad Jukskei River flows through the property, creating picturesque scenery.

In January 2018, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office issued a statement demanding that ministers and senior civil servants declare their assets within a month. It said the order covered ministers and their deputies, permanent secretaries, senior principal directors, board members of state enterprises and parastatals, and their chief executive officers.

Also included were chief executives of local authorities and members of constitutional commissions.

The assets which required declaration included immovable and movable property worth more than US$100 000.

It is doubtful Guvamatanga has declared his huge portfolio of real estate, including the houses which fall within the category of those that should be declared.

The government, through different state institutions, including the Anti-Corruption Commission and Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, for instance, has always promised lifestyle audits, but usually target insignificant nonentities, while ignoring the corrupt big fish.

Guvamatanga did not respond to queries from The NewsHawks sent to him over the source of his money and how he is funding his massive property purchases despite being given more than a week to do so.

A Johannesburg-based estate agent told The NewsHawks: constitutional and accountability roles and obligations. “

Records and research show Guvamatanga has more than 10 houses in neighbouring suburbs, that is Sandton, Randburg and Fourways, but mostly in Dainfern Golf Estate, which is like a suburb on its own.

“There is nothing wrong with anyone buying as many houses as they want, even if they buy all properties in one street.

“Guvamatanga is a businessman, who has interests spanning real estate, insurance, retail and distribution, and farming, some of them established before he joined government, and has a business executive background, but the issue is that he is now a public official handling public funds and other resources.

“He manages taxpayers’ funds and does payments for various government and private sector works and invoices as Treasury’s chief accounting officer.”

Financial analysts say this is a concerning situation, given that there are means and procedures of earning legitimately and spending, without raising fears, especially as a public official who has Treasury officials, who are responsible for managing public funds, are vulnerable to corruption due to access to large sums of money, power to allocate resources and award contracts, influence over financial policies, decisions and payments, embezzlement, bribery, and kickbacks, analysts say.

There has been serious concern about relations between Guvamatanga and some influential businesspeople such as local tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei, construction magnates and others.

The suspicions reached crisis proportions in 2021 when Tagwirei gave Guvamatanga a birthday package amounting to well over US$100 000 to spend and hire a private jet to go to watch his favourite English Premier League football club, Arsenal, in London.

That raised public uproar as it created a potential conflict of interest, given that he is friends with Tagwirei, who also does business with state institutions and government, for instance the multiple billion-dollar Command Agriculture programme, fuel and mining deals, in which Guvamatanga is the paymaster.

In public circles, Guvamatanga is viewed as Tagwirei’s fixer.

It is said Tagwirei played a key role to get him appointed permanent secretary in September 2018.

Tagwirei is close to Mnangagwa.

At the same time, Guvamatanga is free-spending.

He splurged money like confetti at his 50th birthday after recovering from Covid-19 in 2021; hiring a private jet to fly his family to Victoria Falls, lavishly spending and flying in South Africa musicians to perform for him.

At his birthday bash in Harare, he invited top business executives, the First Family and friends who gathered at a venue in Sunningdale in a frontal display of wealth.

The party was also graced by construction bigwigs who are servicing emergency road rehabilitation tenders and getting paid through him.

This led to social media allegations that some public officials were charging construction bosses and others 10% in a desperate quest to be paid to secure the release of money expeditiously.

The former Barclays Zimbabwe chief executive treated his guests to a night of pomp and fanfare, displaying his profligate habits and poor judgement.

He flew in popular South African artistes, the trailblazing Makhadzi and Mafikizolo, with the former leaving VIP guests salivating and eating from her palm with her popular hits, while Mafikizolo performed powerful tracks from their repertoire of songs.

Zimbabwean legendary award-winning guitarist and producer Louis Mhlanga, who is South African-based, was also a headline act at the event where Guvamatanga said he wished he could pay him five times more. Some say Mhlanga was actually paid five times.

As the show reached fever pitch, Guvatamatanga acted impulsively — which raised public concerns given his position in Treasury — telling Mafikizolo singer-songwriter, Theo Kgosinkwe, that he would pay the group five times more than the agreed amount, about R500 000.

“Whatever was on that bill, because I don’t want to disclose I am multiplying what was on that bill by five. Tomorrow morning, you give me your bank details, by the time you get to South Africa, that amount by five will be in your account, my brother,” he said.

Makhadzi was also given a “bonus” and pocketed over R1 million in the process.

Outraged by his poor judgement and sense of being detached from reality — spending recklessly on fun in a sea of poverty — the public attacked Guvamatanga badly on social media and other platforms.

The permanent secretary claimed that he had made his money from his 28 years in the private sector, 10 of those as bank managing director, where he was allegedly paid a US$3 million termination package.

“Now if I paid US$3 million in taxes, ndakasara nemari? (How much money did I remain with?),” he asked. He also said his package at Barclays, including a bonus, was US$3 million.

“It is all above board, I have a known offshore account, and have interests across most sectors of the economy, from insurance to agriculture to distribution and others,” he said.

“I will need you to come to my farm, I have 1 200 cattle. My business interest and wealth are known and everything has been declared. I cannot pretend to be poor.”

However, in the process Guvamatanga was caught misrepresenting his Barclays termination benefits to explain the source of his money and justify his extravagant expenditures.

Facts show that Guvamatanga was not paid US$3 million as he publicly claims.

As reported by the Zimbabwe Independent on 10 November 2017, quoting a letter from the Barclays chairperson at the time, Guvamatanga was paid only US$354 000 as his package, not US$3 million.

This raises questions about the real source of his money which he spends so recklessly, paying musicians five times more and even buying a kitchen unit and finishings for US$50 000.

Guvamatanga’s office is also vulnerable to pressure from politicians, businesses, or individuals seeking favours, mainly for payments.

There were recent reports that Guvamatanga was practically dismissed before he was reinstated upon apologising for failing to take instructions on payments.

He was said to have been resisting making some payments he did not want, but political pressure was brought to bear on him.

Guvamatanga was also recently pressured to pay controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo US$7 million for one of his tenders.

Chivayo has various tenders with state institutions. A source said: “Guvamatanga’s property buying spree in Zimbabwe and South Africa raises issues of transparency and accountability on his part and Treasury’s financial dealings.

Given that the money is being spent mainly in South Africa, it is also fair to ask questions about money laundering and illicit financial flows.

“Corruption among Treasury officials can have dire consequences and undermine service delivery. You can have some misallocation of public funds, inefficient use of resources, unequal distribution of wealth, undermining of public trust in government, economic instability and stagnation, injustice and unfairness, damage to the country’s reputation, and legal and reputational consequences for individuals involved.”

Guvamatanga ignored questions sent to him by The NewsHawks despite being given more than a week to respond.