HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa has officially revoked the controversial General Notice 635 of 2023 which blocked any public disclosure around the procurement of some health and construction goods by government.
This was after the controversial notice gazetted earlier this month invited outrage amid claims the Zanu PF led administration was trying to camouflage rampant looting of public resources within government corridors.
When the decree was first issued, Mnangagwa was quick to distance himself and his office from it through a statement issued by his office.
Mnangagwa has moved to regularise the position through an extraordinary gazette issued Thursday.
Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda said the Special Procurements in the Public Interest: Health Service: General Notice 635 of 2023 has been repealed.
“It is hereby notified that His Excellency the President has with immediate effect cancelled the declaration set forth in General Notice 635 of 2023; that general notice is accordingly repealed,” read the gazette.
The repealed notice would have outlawed the public declaration of construction equipment and materials such as biomedical and medical equipment, (medicines and drugs (pharmaceuticals), vehicles including ambulances, laboratory equipment, chemicals and accessories, hospital protective equipment, repairs and maintenance services of hospital equipment and machinery.
The notice had also given the President a choice to hide public procurement or disposal of health and construction equipment for “defence, security or national interests of Zimbabwe”.
