Mazoe Citrus fears revenue loss after ‘invasion’ by Grace Mugabe
By Tererai Karimakwenda
18 January 2013
The company that owns Zimbabwe’s well-known Mazoe Citrus Estate has warned
of a possible 30% loss of revenue, following the recent takeover of a large
portion of their property by Grace Mugabe, who reportedly wants to expand
her orphanage nearby.
Robert Mugabe’s wife is said to have recently taken control of at least
1,600 hectares of land on the Mazoe Estate, which is owned by agro-producer
Interfresh.
According to NewsDay newspaper, the acquisition came just weeks after the
Governor of Mashonaland Central, Martin Dinha, promised Grace more land for
her school and orphanage.
Dinha was reportedly speaking at the official opening of the Amai Mugabe
Junior School in Mazowe earlier this month, where he said Grace’s school and
orphanage “had given the province a facelift”, Newsday said.
Dinha had also toured the orphanage in October last year, when he said
papers were being prepared to extend the orphanage because Grace needed more
land for her projects. The governor has been instrumental in facilitating
the land acquisitions for Grace.
A worker at the farm who confirmed the development, told Newsday: “Nothing
is happening here at the moment. The offices which were on this side (citrus
estate) have been moved to the other side (at the orphanage) and this
happened after it was taken over by the First Lady, so we are not sure of
the way forward now.”
Charles Taffs, President of the Commercial Farmers’ Union of Zimbabwe (CFU),
said this takeover of land by government officials is nothing new, but has
unfortunately continued at a time when the country should be building
investor confidence.
“We cannot continue along this line and until our leaders understand this
and do something about it will destroy us. We need to correct this and
attract investment and create employment. No-one is going to invest in
agriculture while all of this is still going on,” Taffs told SW Radio
Africa.
Regarding the land grab by the first lady, Taffs said: “In terms of that
family it’s well documented the land they have and what’s happening on those
farms. Why is it that they continue along this path. It makes no sense.”
Taffs then referred to recent comments made by the Minister of Agriculture,
promising that no foreign-owned properties protected by BIPPAs would be
acquired under land reform for now.
“This is not happening on the ground and we are seeing conflicting signals
coming from government all the time. This is adding to this mess of investor
instability and lack of confidence,” Taffs stressed.
Apart from destroying investor confidence the land grabs have been
responsible for the fact that this year at least 1.7 million Zimbabweans
will go hungry, as not enough food is grown to feed the nation.