Crime and disease are fallout from farm destruction

Zanu (PF) hardliners invaded part of Rakodzi farm and grabbed a 51 percent stake in the flourishing project. And the fall-out from the collapse of the business has touched thousands of people in the area. The company had to lay off 90 per cent of the workforce to worsen joblessness in a Mashonaland East province.

Mitchell drew its workers from Marondera town, Murehwa, Svosve, Seke, Goromonzi and Macheke communal lands, and their redundancy has affected all these communities. Children have dropped out of school, opportunistic illnesses such as tuberculosis and Kwashiorkor have taken their toll on vulnerable families and vices such as prositution and robbery are on the rise.

Settlers surrounding the farm and new farmers have looted the horticulture infrastructure. Irrigation pipes, sprinklers, green- house nets and other items have been stolen some of them reappearing for sale in Mozambique.

During the past decade of economic disaster, Mitchell and Mitchell was one of the few surviving foreign currency earners in the failed state. High-ranking Zanu (PF) politicians, including some in the presidium, have been accused of grabbing shares in the business, which employed more than 4 000 workers at its peak.

After threatening the farm owner, a Zanu (PF) supporter believed to be a manager at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in Harare, allegedly grabbed part of the Mitchell project after invading Sanzara farm. He then seized 51 percent shares in the remaining portion of the enterprise.

Following the ceding of majority shareholding to the central bank worker, the export business began to run at a loss and a partnership with Rolex South Africa began to crumble. Rolex had transported some of the produce to South Africa for packaging and labelling before exporting to Western markets.

The horticulture venture based on the growing and exporting of runner beans, tender-stem peas, carrots and other vegetables was forced to close down. The red and white articulated Rolex trucks that used to arrive daily are nowhere to be seen.

It seems Zanu (PF) has killed the goose that laid the golden egg. Mitchell has had no option but to quit horticulture and venture into tobacco growing, which requires less labour. The hijacked farm, now operating as Mitchell and Dhiziri, has prepared 80 hectares for the golden leaf. The project is funded by a loan from Northern Tobacco Company.

One of the workers who was there at the start of the original horticulture project, Susan Mbarame (85), looks back in sorrow. It pains me to learn that the Mitchells efforts are going to waste, she said.

What will become of the parents and schoolchildren whose lives depended on the generosity and hard work of the Mitchells. We do not have anywhere to go. Most farm children have dropped out of school.