Wheels fall off contract with Zimbabwe's railways

By IRENE MADONGO
Updated: 17:02 EST, 18 June 2011

British rail expert Michael Hart, who was last year awarded the OBE for services to the industry, is at the centre of a battle to win back millions of pounds after a deal with Zimbabwe’s state-owned rail operator turned sour.

His company, Railway Wheelset and Brake, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, supplied the debt-ridden National Railways of Zimbabwe with parts, but it is refusing to pay up, saying they were of poor quality and overpriced.

Hart is also a director of Ffestiniog Railway, which runs heritage railway lines and boasts it is the oldest company in the world still running trains.

Debt-ridden: Zimbabwe's rail network

RWB, which has filed a lawsuit against NRZ for £2.7 million, said NRZ agreed to pay half the debt by August 2009, with monthly payments of £100,000.

Documents filed with the High Court in Bulawayo show NRZ disputes this figure. 

Hart’s decision to enter into serious business with a Zimbabwean state-owned firm was a huge risk. NRZ was struggling to survive and to restore its network as hyperinflation ravaged the country’s economy.

The chances of RWB getting its money back appeared slim, said Zimbabwe economics expert Masimba Kuchera.

‘They may be awarded the case on a legal basis, but it needs either the Zimbabwe government or the company that appropriates NRZ and its debts to agree to pay,’ he said.

Hart claimed that an agreement had been reached last week and the matter was closed.

‘It has been resolved,’ he said, though the court in Bulawayo told Financial Mail the case was still ongoing.