The company was reeling from a US$20 million debt, which
forced the entity to auction some of its equipment to pay creditors.
The sprawling estate, formerly known as Foyle Farm before
the property was parceled to the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority
(Arda) by the then Agriculture ministry, measures 1 200 hectares.
It was later taken by the late former president Robert Mugabe
who set up a state-of-the-art dairy plant in Mazowe — about 40km north of
Harare. Over 80 newly resettled farmers in Mazowe were forcibly removed to pave
way for Mugabe’s business venture.
Gushungo Dairy equipment was imported from South Africa for
about US$15 million at a time when Mugabe was ruling Zimbabwe with an iron
fist. The company Alpha Omega Dairy (Pvt) Ltd under the Gushungo Estates
produced milk, yogurt, cheese and ice cream.
At its peak, the firm produced over 400 000 litres of milk
per month.
High-level sources told the Zimbabwe Independent this week
that Grace Mugabe failed to run the business resulting in the sale of 700 dairy
cows to a local butcher.
At market value, each of the dairy cows cost around US$$2
000, but the butcher could have bought at a lesser price as the cattle were
meant for beef.
“Under normal circumstances, dairy cows are expensive but
what butchers do is that they buy each beast after weighing. The Gushungo cows
were sold last year,” the official, who preferred anonymity, said. “Gushungo
Dairy is closed. Workers have been sent home; about 120 of them. Just a few
were left doing menial jobs.”
The Independent understands that the dairy equipment is
lying idle as a millionaire businessman who is renting the farm has not yet
started producing.
“There is no activity at the farm. Most of the equipment
was auctioned away earlier this year and some of it last year. This paints a
grim picture of a once thriving dairy farm,” an official said.
“Things are not going well. In fact the Mugabe family has scaled
down on operations at the farms. In summation, they failed dismally.”
Apart from the collapsed Gushungo Dairy, a 1 000 pig and 6
000 chicken project at Mugabe’s rural Kutamba village home, suffered a natural
death as Grace neglected the projects.
Mugabe — who ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for 37 years,
but was removed via a military coup in November 2017 — left a huge business
portfolio mainly in farming with 21 farms, according to a government
commissioned land audit.
This is in stark contrast with the one-man-one-farm land
policy his administration touted while Mugabe and his family turned into
notorious land barons.
Signs of financial problems started showing in May 2019
after Gushungo Dairy Farm auctioned five combine harvesters, five Toyota Hilux
pick-up trucks and other farm equipment. Mugabe later died on September 6,
2019.
Recently, the Independent exclusively reported that
Mugabe’s family was rocked by a fresh scandal after allegedly selling an
assortment of farm equipment belonging to government departments and pocketed
the money.
Some of the equipment sold included tractors, high-pressure
water pumps and vehicles which had been bought by various government
departments using taxpayers’ money.
The Mugabes accessed tractors and combine harvesters from
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) during the Gideon Gono era as the apex bank
governor.
Mugabe’s daughter, Bona Chikore, who was once Gushungo
Holdings’ finance director, could not be reached for comment this week.
Zimbabwe Independent
0 comments:
Post a Comment