Earmarked for a clinic and school by the Zanu (PF) government during the height of the land grab in 2002, the buildings are now in a dilapidating state and are being used as a bar and brothel by the resettled farmers who occupied the once-thriving farm.
Solomon Mashingaidze, a self-styled war veteran, invaded the property in 2002 and now sells opaque beer and an illicit brew called ZED. His fellow invaders have abandoned farming and are into illegal gold panning.
A cottage that was meant to be a clinic is being used as a brothel where commercial sex workers who have besieged the area entertain gold panners.
In an interview Mashingaidze said: “I do not see anything wrong with selling opaque beer. This is business and it is also a way of motivating the resettled farmers here. We have been losing a lot of labour force to the timber estates and I have seen that if we sell cheap beer here the workers will remain here.”
Mashingaidze is also accused of not paying his workers, or paying them with rations of beer.
“That is rubbish. Whoever told you that should go to hell. I am the best paying farmer here. What happens is that these workers buy beer on credit and they sign. Then I deduct the money from their salaries at the end of the month,” he explained.
The farmhouse is now in a shocking state, having been vandalised and stripped of taps, bathtubs and windowpanes.
The coffee bushes at the farm have been destroyed and replaced by pockets of maize.
Post published in: News