Daily News|STRIPPED of their aura of omnipotence  first, via the stunning military coup that ousted their patriarch Robert Mugabe from power in November 2017, and then more recently through his death  ever more skeletons are tumbling out of his family’s closet.

It has now been confirmed that Mugabe and his family grabbed a staggering 23 farms in the rich farming areas of Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West  from both their black and white owners  and all in the short space of two years in the mid 2000s, the Daily News can reveal authoritatively.

This, Mugabe and his voracious family managed to do while hypocritically preaching socialism, egalitarianism and equitable land re-distribution — entailing the official government policy of one person one farm — to hungry, landless Zimbabweans.

But the Mugabes were not alone in this decadence. Many Zanu PF bigwigs were also active and enthusiastic participants in this corrupt “lootocracy”, as a senior government official put it yesterday.

These details come after President Emmerson Mnangagwa also revealed earlier this year that Mugabe’s erratic widow Grace was a multiple farm owner — with Zanu PF party youths threatening to strip her of the land at the time.

Mnangagwa said then that High Court judge, Justice Tendai Uchena’s Land Commission had exposed the former first lady as owning more than 15 farms — although he did not disclose more details, including where the farms are located and their names.

The Daily News now has in its possession the full list of farms and their sizes that the Mugabes grabbed in Mazowe, Banket and around Harare between 2004 and 2006. And it makes for staggering reading.

All the farms were registered in the names of their children Bona, Robert Junior and Chatunga — who were minors at the time the land was grabbed — as well as in the names of the family’s companies and their proxies.

The Mugabes also often grabbed farms adjacent to each other, before consolidating them into one — to mask their greed and multiple land ownership.

For example, the present-day Smithfield Farm in Mazowe is in fact a combination of five farms — namely the initial Smithfield Farm, Willow Plot, Lemon Pool, Lot 5 of Yarrowdale and Mazowe Junction.

“Total hectarage is around 1 300 hectares. They are not farming on this consolidated farm. They have subcontracted and leased it to . . .  (two white businessmen) … and the offer letter for this farm is in the name of the Grace Mugabe Foundation.

“The letter they use to purport ownership is a farm handover letter which is not a standard offer of land and also makes it clear that it is State land which might be required for resettlement,” reads one official document that lays bare how the Mugabes grabbed and sought to hide details of their 23 farms.

Similarly, Iron Mask Farm was consolidated from three farms — namely B of Greater B, Remainder of Iron Mask and a portion of Irene Estate.

“The handover letter is in the name of Grace Mugabe’s Children Home. It also does not have a standard offer letter in terms of the Land Reform Act, but a handover of farm letter which can be legally challenged. This combined farm has a total of 1 399.6 hectares,” another document shows. 

Shockingly, Mugabe did not just use his political muscle to grab the farms, he also sublet many of the farms despite regularly speaking against that practise at Zanu PF meetings and rallies. But his fall from power and recent death has blown the lid on his shady dealings, in addition to triggering a flood of land lawsuits against his widow Grace.

For example, the former first lady is currently locked in a legal tussle for the control of Teviotdale Farm in Pomona, in Harare, which measures a total of 310 hectares.

Among the claimants for that farm are three bona fide land beneficiaries — Adonia Makombe, Sahungwe Hungwe and Nyika Chifamba.

“The Mugabes have a handover letter for the farm which is in the name of their company called Kaseplan Grand Industries.

“The families who had settled on the farm were evicted by the Mugabes who managed to obtain this handover letter in 2011.

“They used police, the military and State security to chase away these people and dump them in Mbare, to enable them to take occupation of the farm,” another document reveals.

“They have also taken 100 hectares of State land next to the farm that was initially meant for a botanical garden.

“The botanical garden project was shelved by the State because of lack of underground water. They call this place Zunde,” the document says further.

The Mugabes’ famous Gushungo Dairy in Mazowe also came into being after former Agriculture minister Joseph Made apparently caused the eviction of the former white owner.

“It was called Folye Farm. Made, the then minister of Agriculture, took it away from the former white owner, and (temporarily) passed it on to Arda.

“It became known as Arda Foyle Farm for about two seasons, before it was handed over to the then president.

“All the infrastructure that was mobilised by Arda was taken over (by the Mugabes) and the farm became known as Gushungo Dairy Estate,” yet another document reveals.

While, admirably, Mugabe used his own resources in 1980 to acquire Highfield Farm just outside Norton, and close to his Zvimba rural home, investigations have revealed that he later kicked out his neighbours and forcefully took over four adjacent farms — Tankatara, Cressydale, John O Groats and Clifford.

“Through the office of the then Agriculture minister, Made, they mobilised State resources and installed 19 centre pivots in all these farms where they had chased away people.

“They never got any paperwork for these farms. Literally, they (the Mugabes) are illegal occupants of those farms. The total hectarage of the farms combined is 4 800 hectares,” yet another document reveals.

Just outside Harare, near Westgate, the Mugabes have another farm known as Mwenewazvo, ostensibly named after Grace’s totem.

“The original farm name is Sigaro. Again, Arda took over briefly, preparing to hand it over to the Mugabes. Arda named it Arda Sigaro.

“They mobilised equipment and handed it over to the Mugabes. It has about 1 300 hectares. There is no meaningful activity taking place on the farm,” an official document reads.

Apart from the land in Westgate, the Mugabes also have two farms in Banket, as well as in Hatcliffe.

In Mazowe, where the government chased away poor villagers to pave way for the Mugabes, the former first family owns Manzou Farm, Surtic Ranch, Arnolds Farm, Maggiesdale Farm and Glenbervile — an expanse of land measuring more than 16 000 hectares.