Edwin Moyo

TWELVE years after falling victim to a land reform programme that went horribly wrong, former co-owner of Kondozi Farm, Edwin Moyo, finally got his voice back to tell his side of the story.
He narrates what really went wrong at what was once one of the most successful horticultural ventures in Zimbabwe.
In a self-published book, My Kondozi Story, The People’s Hope Pillaged, in which he takes no prisoners, Moyo tells of how unbridled greed by politicians resulted in the seizure and strangling of a massive horticultural project, leaving not just the owners — but the usurpers and the local community as well — all losers.
“It is a story of greed, envy and personal ambition cloaked under the guise of public interest, and a vicious struggle for power among those claiming to be the champions of people’s rights,” Moyo says in the book.
“As with all controversial developments, delineating the shades of grey can be tricky. The vicious fight over Kondozi Farm in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands brings to the fore some of the elements of the country’s reform in a way that no other land wrangle did.”
Throughout the book, Moyo accuses several senior government and ruling ZANU-PF officials of being behind the seizure and wanton destruction of Kondozi Farm.
The individuals repeatedly named by Moyo as the principal culprits include Christopher Mushowe (now Information Minister) who went on to take over the farm after the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) had failed to run it; Jonathan Moyo (during his time as information minister); Agriculture Minister Joseph Made; former justice minister Patrick Chinamasa, as well as former cabinet minister Didymus Mutasa.
“This book sets the record straight on the several events that led to the takeover of the farm, the consequences that followed, and the damage the actions had on the lofty goals of Zimbabwe’s land reform programme,” Moyo says.
However, throughout the book, Moyo does not seem to reveal anything that is really new, as most of the things that he covers on the Kondozi Farm saga appear to be the same stories that have been covered over and over again by the media (as indicated by extensive quotes from the local media reports).
If Moyo set out to write a book to repeat the story of plunder at Kondozi, although in his own words as someone who was very close to the action, he appears to have done it quite well.
However, is he set out to convince his detractors — including the several senior government and ruling party officials named above — who to this day still maintain that he was a mere front to protect white interests at Kondozi Farm, then this was quite a very poor attempt.
Throughout the book, Moyo does not quite convincingly explain how he sashayed his way into Kondozi Farm — owned by the de Klerk brothers Piet, Matthew and Koos — to emerge as the majority (52 percent) shareholder while the three brothers — who owned the means of production (the land) were content with sharing the remaining 48 percent.
“Adrian Zeederberg and I identified Kondozi estate as suitable (climate for year-round horticultural production) and entered into a partnership with the de Klerk family, the owners of the land, in a venture known as Canvest Farming, in which I had a 52 percent share. We built a pack-house at Wallacedale Farm on the Kondozi estate and managed the rest of the estate.
“My business partners at Kondozi, the de Klerks, and I worked diligently and discreetly. Our agricultural production was a success — a success that spoke for itself in financial terms. Kondozi became a commercial force to reckon with and firmly established itself as a high-quality horticultural operation,” Moyo says.
This is the nearest he tried to explain the mystery surrounding his involvement with the farm, for which he has been roundly accused of being a black face hired for a white agenda.
In the end, it goes back to square one.
His detractors accuse him of being an “Uncle Tom” and he denies it. Nothing changes.
Although some two years ago Moyo indicated that he was going to publish the book — which he then titled “No Going Back on Kondozi… Pillaging the People’s Hope”—through a publisher in Cape Town South Africa, it is not very clear why he ended up resorting to self-publishing because the final product is not really the best of books.
The book is oddly structured.
It starts with a four-page Foreword by the author’s personal friend, former Bank of Zambia governor, Caleb Fundanga.
Then there is a three-page Preface by Moyo himself.
This is followed by 48 pages — almost a third of the book — of what is titled Introduction, which hardly has anything to do with Kondozi Farm, but in which the writer just talks about himself, his coruscating journalism and marketing careers and more about himself before the book proper starts on page 50!
When you have finished reading the book, you certainly know more about Edwin Moyo’s exploits as a journalist and his solid network of connections than why it is unfair for his detractors to accuse him of being a mere front for worried white commercial farmers!
After completing the book, if Moyo indeed had to thank some people listed in the opening pages of the book — including several writers (one of whom he appears not to know so much that she was split into two) — one wonders what he was thanking them for as the book went on to be published with some glaring factual and other errors… either he ignored their advice altogether or they feared him and therefore politely told him exactly what he wanted to hear.
The book also suffers from the tragedy that befalls most self-published books… some writers become too protective of their work and sometimes too emotional, so as not to take constructive criticism from those whose opinion they may seek.
In some cases those consulted, realising how tetchy the writer could be to any suggestion, let alone criticism, may just tell them exactly what they want to hear.
For anyone writing a non-fiction work — let alone for a journalist — facts are sacred.
Somewhere in the book, Moyo mentions something about Maurice Nyagumbo being “Senior Minister for Political Affairs from 1988 to 1999”, that Nyagumbo later commits suicide “after” drinking rat poison, that Jonathan Moyo was booted from ZANU-PF after contesting for the 2008 elections as an independent candidate, that Mushowe had won the Mutare West seat in the 2003 election, that there is a town called “Chimoi” in “Manicaland Province” of Mozambique among other things.
He claims that Kindness Paradza used to publish “The Mirror”, “a weekly newspaper that was later closed down by Jonathan Moyo because it ran stories that were pro-Kondozi…”.
Paradza was once the publisher of The Tribune, whose operating licence was suspended in April 2005 for one year by the Media and Information Commission for failing to notify the body of changes in its shareholding; Jonathan Moyo had long been dismissed from the ruling party and government.
This is one such book that is so badly written that only after going through it does one starts appreciating the services of professional editors!
Usually a professional book editor would give a writer a torrid time, demanding proof that each and everything being included in the book contributes towards the final objective and also that everything being said is fact and does not turn out to be libellous in a court of law.
These seemingly kill-joy professionals serve to provide checks and balances and therefore help stop a writer from becoming narcissistic as to get carried away by their own emotions resulting in them wandering into dangerous territory or into irrelevance.

My Kondozi Story, The People’s Hope Pillaged was written and published By Edwin Moyo in 2016.