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Zvamaida Murwira Harare Bureau
THE National Social Security Authority’s hotel in Beitbridge could be closed by the local authority after the temporary permit allowing it to operate expired last month.NSSA is pinning its hopes on negotiations with Beitbridge Town Council.

Much also depends on the decision an arbitrator will make in a dispute between NSSA and the hotel architect in a payment dispute.
Last week, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority garnished NSSA accounts $10 million for failing to remit capital gains tax for its properties over the past six years.

Zimra swooped on NSSA after negotiations between the two failed to produce results a situation that saw the tax collector growing impatient.

On the Beitbridge hotel being leased to the Rainbow Tourism Group, the arbitrator in the dispute between NSSA and the architect Daniel Mandishona is still to hand down judgement.

The 140-room hotel was operating on a three-month temporary permit that expired last month after Mandishona withheld design papers because NSSA cancelled his contract at the instigation of the State Procurement Board, which said he could not be both project manager and architect.

A source close to the case said that the arbitrator had finished writing his judgement, but was waiting for both parties to pay his dues in full to release it.

NSSA general manager James Matiza said Beitbridge Town Council was aware that it was not in anyone’s best interests to shut down the hotel.

“I don’t think Beitbridge Town Council would want to close it because it would affect many residents in the town,” he said.

On garnishing of their accounts, Matiza said Zimra had rushed its decision, and that NSSA was unaware that people who sold them property were not remitting capital gains tax.

Further, he said, lawyers who facilitated the property transactions were not making tax returns.

He said others had remitted, but did not have documentation at hand resulting in the money ballooning initially to $22 million.
Matiza said their investigations showed that the anomalies dated back to 2009.

“Zimra has asked us to bring the tax certificates and we would be refunded as and when we produce the certificates. The surprising thing was that they garnished our account when we were still negotiating as if we had refused to pay, maybe they got impatient.

“We have not stopped going to the owners of the properties we bought requesting for the certificates. As we produce evidence that they paid tax they would remove that charge on us.”