Operations came to gradual halt as Zanu (PF) cabinet ministers and top officials looted and stripped the farms of everything valuable. Enoch Porusingazi, Munacho Mutezo, Chris Mushowe and Mike Nyambuya among other senior officials were involved in the looting spree.
Seeing the potential at ARDA Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi Estates, Zanu (PF)s Billy Rautenbach of Rating and Macdom Investments, believed to be a close business associate of President Robert Mugabe and Zanu (PF)s chief fund raiser, entered into a 20-year Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement to transform the estates into sugarcane fields to produce ethanol.
But deep Zanu (PF) factionalism in Manicaland is threatening to stall the ambitious ethanol project, with some top party officials claiming they are being sidelined. The ethanol plant is already under construction at Chisumbanje and is expected to produce between 35 000 and 40 000 litres of ethanol per day. The first stage requires putting 11 000 ha under sugarcane.
About 500 families under Chiefs Garawa and Mupungu will be relocated to pave way for the massive expansion. But beneath the faade of this noble project that is touted to create jobs for many desperate locals, is a boiling mess.
Blue-eyed boys
The project reportedly came through Mugabes blue-eyed boys, Didymus Mutasa (Minister of State for Presidential Affairs minister), Joseph Made (Agriculture minister) and Basil Nyabadza (former Zanu (PF) Manicaland Province chairman) while other top Zanu (PF) officials including Oppah Muchinguri (National Secretary For Womens Affairs), Kumbirai Kangai, Chris Mushowe (Manicaland Governor), Mike Madiro (Zanu PF Manicaland Chairman) among other top officials were not aware of the project.
Mutasa, Made and Nyabadza are not Zanu (PF). They do not represent all the wishes of the Zanu (PF) people in Manicaland province. We do not recognize that project because the governor (Mushohwe) was not informed and consulted on the project. The provincial party executive is not aware of that, so we do not know what they (Mutasa, Made and Nyabadza) are up to, a Zanu (PF) politician in the province said.
They should have come to the party to sell this idea of the ethanol project so that we all know of what is happening. Now these three are now taking this project as their personal business, added the party official who requested not to be named.
Zanu (PF) only
Other political commentators said the project should not be a Zanu (PF) thing only, but should be a government initiative where all parties in the Global Political Agreement have direct control of the project. I think all the political parties (Zanu (PF), MDC-T and MDC-M were supposed to be consulted and included in the project if it is to benefit all the Zimbabweans. Zanu (PF) is taking this project as its own and they want to loot everything again like what they did in Chiadzwa, said Farai Sithole, a political commentator.
Now the party officials are fighting each other it means that there is more to what meets the eye. They are aware that those few involved in the project will benefit at the expense of others. There is a lot going on in this project. This project is not earmarked for the economic development of the country, but it is meant to fatten some pockets of few individuals within Zanu (PF), said Sithole.
Different tune
But Nyabadza, who chairs the ARDA board, was singing a different tune. It is not true that we want to personalize this project. I have personally spoken to (Governor) Mushohwe and he was excited about the project. I have invited him on a tour together with relevant authorities from the Ministry of Power and Energy.
Everything was done above board. We have since invited the parliamentary portfolio committee in charge of land and water to visit. I am hopeful that a parliamentary committee will visit the sites to see for themselves because we believe we have passed the talking phase, he said.
Despite the objections by the politicians, Rautenbach is moving ahead with the project under instructions from Mugabe.
“A year ago it was a fair argument that nothing is being done at Arda, but as you can see the same cannot be said about the estates now,” Nyabadza said. “We are now extracting value from the land. It is history in the making.”
What surprises us is the fact that there were no meetings that were undertaken to inform the whole party in the province that they are initiating this project. But only few individuals masterminded the project, added another Zanu (PF) senior official. Billy (Rautenbach) is taking everything in this country. There are some blacks who have the potential and capacity of running this project, asked the official.
Rautenbachs forex
Nyabadza said Rautenbach had the capacity to bring in foreign currency in the country. Under a BOT arrangement, a contractor develops a project for a time sufficient to recover the cost of the establishment and gain profit before handing it over to the project owner in working order. Rautenbach is working with Nyabadza, Mutasa and Made who in this case are the owners, which raises eyebrows, he said.
Nyabadza said over 5 000 people would be employed when operations reach peak and the project would to contribute over 18 MW daily to the national electricity grid. Rautenbach has reportedly injected US$15 million so far. Another US$30 million is expected to be invested by June this year.
Post published in: News