Harare — A farm in Mazowe that belongs to former first lady Grace Mugabe has been invaded by illegal gold miners estimated to number about 400 which are conducting gold panning activities on the property.
The Smithfield farm invasion poses a threat to the Mugabe’s farming activities in the Mazowe area, which is the heart of their business empire. It is also a marked turn of fortunes for the once powerful couple that rubber-stamped and oversaw the often violent seizure of white-owned farms in 2000 in the country.
About 4 500 white commercial farmers were estimated to have been forcibly removed from their farms during the war veterans led seizures of 2000. Zimbabwe’s agricultural output plummeted as a result of the farm invasions.
In Mazowe, Mugabe owns Manzou farm and runs an orphanage and a school, the Amai Mugabe School. She reportedly also tried to seize a dam last year in the area, with villagers from the area denied access to the dam by police that guarded her properties.
At the invaded Smithfield farm, property worth thousands of dollars that includes state-of-the-art irrigation equipment was damaged and farming equipment was stolen by the illegal gold panners, Mugabe claimed in a police report filed at Mazowe police station.
"On the 29th day of March 2018 at around 11:30 hours, I was touring my farm, Smithfeld when I arrived at lemon pool section, I was shocked to find a group of approximately 400 men busy illegally panning for gold. I then asked them to stop their activities since I am the owner of the farm and I am the holder of a special grant for the whole area. However, the crowd, which was being led by one known as Nyazvigo started to shout obscenities at me and continued with their unlawful activities. The illegal activities have since destroyed my irrigation infrastructure, which feeds lemons pool section, and there is massive land degradation," Grace Mugabe said.
The special grant given to Mugabe is recorded under number 6045 and was signed in June in 2016, by the mines and mining development ministry. The illegal gold panners have so far refused to leave the property.
People close to the Mugabe family said the family viewed the invasion as "politically motivated" and as a jab at the couple’s business interests, after they gave a rare interview last month at their lavish Blue Roof mansion to the Sunday Times. In the interview Robert Mugabe bluntly said President Emmerson Mnangagwa was "illegal where he is" and "a coup d'etat" had been used to force him out.
An official in the Mnangagwa administration who spoke on condition of anonymity this week said they "had been surprised" by the utterances of the former president.
Meanwhile police confirmed that they had received a report and documents this week that allegedly places the former first lady as the kingpin of an ivory smuggling ring to the Middle East and China. Police spokesperson Charity Charamba said investigations on the poaching allegations were in progress.
"Investigations are in their infancy, but we have received a report from the parks authority and we have initiated investigations. It’s a long process and might take a long time," she said.
Zimbabwe’s National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said they have given the police relevant documents linking Mugabe to the poaching rings. Tinashe Farawo, the spokesperson for the parks said their documents showed that she had intended to ship the ivory to the Middle East, America and China.
"We have provided the police with information with some of the documents which the office of the president then was requesting for the shipment of alleged gifts to countries like China, Dubai and the US … I think the matter is under investigation."
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