Esidakeni, a 553-hectare dairy farm in Nyamandlovu, is
co-owned by human rights advocate Siphosami Malunga, son of late nationalist
Sydney Malunga and business partners – gold miner Charles Moyo and a National
University of Science and Technology (NUST) scientist Zephaniah Dhlamini.
Malunga and partners purchased Esidakeni in 2017 from
former white farmers through Kershelmar Farms (Private) Limited.
But the farm has been at the centre of an ownership wrangle
after the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, and Rural Resettlement Anxious
Masuku reportedly acquired it via a Notice of Acquisition General Notice 3042
of 2020 in the government gazette on December 18, 2020.
Lands officials said the 553-hectare property was to be
distributed to 14 landless blacks where businessman and NUST lecturer, Dumisani
Madzivanyati was allocated 50 hectares of the farm after it was listed.
Dr Mpofu also emerged as one of the beneficiaries after a
letter from the lands minister in June 30, 2021, allocated a disproportionate
145 hectares of Esidakeni to a company called Mswelangubo Farm (Private)
Limited that he owns with his wife, Sikhanyisiwe, with each holding 50 percent
shareholding.
The allocation was made despite Dr Mpofu reportedly owning
a catalogue of real estate in Bulawayo and Victoria Falls, with total farm
holdings that come to at least 65,000 hectares, placing him “amongst the
country’s biggest landowners.”
This was revealed in a 2012 investigation by Partnership
Africa Canada where Dr Mpofu emerged as one of the “top five landowners in
Zimbabwe.”
In an interview with CITE, Moyo confirmed that he
recommended that Mpofu be allocated a portion of the farm but dismissed claims
that Madzivanyati was his proxy.
“I am not the lands minister. I recommended Mpofu but land is given by the minister of lands. I recommended Mpofu because he applied as a Zimbabwean,” Moyo said.
“They are mad, Madzivanyati is an old man, who is a businessman. He’s a beneficiary on that farm and he did not take the farm by himself. He was given by the government. Madzivanyati is not my worker at that farm.”
Madzivanyati was kicked out of the farm on Tuesday by the
deputy sheriff but defied the order and reoccupied the farm.
Moyo claimed he had advised Malunga and his partners to also apply to be beneficiaries but they refused.
“I told them (Malunga and partners) to come and apply, but they refused so they can go to hell,” Moyo said.
Moyo stated he was not a beneficiary of Esidakeni, as he
had his own farm.
“What stake do I have there? That (Esidakeni) is state
land, it’s a government farm. It was given to new beneficiaries. I don’t have a
stake. I have my own farm separate from Esidakeni,” said the Matabeleland North
minister.
In recent reports, Dr Mpofu said he was offered a piece of
land and warned Malunga including Moyo and Dlamini of dire consequences if they
continued using social media to abuse him where they claimed Madzivanyati was
his proxy.
However, Malunga and partners believe the Central Intelligence
Organisation’s co-deputy director-general Gatsha Mzithulela, CIO operative
Reason Mpofu are the ones behind the farm seizure, including Dr Mpofu and Moyo
– the Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs minister.
The CIO agent Reason Mpofu, is reported to be a nephew of
the former minister while Madzivanyati is alleged to be a friend of the
Matabeleland North minister. Cite.org.zw
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