REVEALED: Mugabe 'was leasing out land to whites', says report
Former Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe has been leasing out some of his
family’s farm land to white businessmen – even though he threatened others for
doing that while he was in office, a private newspaper reported at the
weekend.
As recently as late October, Mugabe said black owners who invited whites back
to rent and work seized fields would lose their farms.
But the Zimbabwe Independent reports that the former first family was doing
exactly that: leasing out part of Mazowe Citrus Estate to a company in which
some of the main shareholders were white.
The Mugabes seized a large portion of Mazowe Citrus Estate several years
back. It is in a rich farming district north of Harare.
A top shareholder at CFI Holdings, Hamish Rudland, told the paper that Mugabe
had approached them through intermediaries when he was still president. Mugabe
said he was impressed with the way the company ran another farm near Harare.
Mugabe's double standards
Rudland "confirmed entering into a deal with the Mugabe family at a time they
were discouraging and even threatening mostly new land owners from working with
white farmers", the Zimbabwe Independent said. Under the deal Mugabe was to get
5% of turnover.
The revelation has exposed Mugabe's double standards: he was outspoken in his
criticism of party members, including some traditional chiefs, who entered into
partnerships with whites.
"If you don't want to use the land, tell us openly not to clandestinely enter
into arrangements with former white farmers coming from Johannesburg," Mugabe
told a council meeting of more than 200 chiefs in Bulawayo in late October.
"We will chase both you and your white farmer from that land. This land was
fought for," Mugabe was quoted as saying by state media at the time.
The Zimbabwe Independent said the former president and family members between
them owned a total of 15 809 hectares of land.
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