Herald report on Mugabes admitting externalising money exposes Mnangagwa

When one hears the ravings, rantings, whinings and outright lies from and Grace Mugabe about their poverty and being hard done by, perhaps the public should want answers to the following Mugabe assets and acquisitions:

a) Blue Roof: What is the value of the “Blue Roof” mansion and who paid for it? From its opulent looks, no ordinary Zimbabwean can afford such a mansion. From the presidential salary, Bob could not afford to build a mansion worth millions. There is also no record of him have obtained a mortgage to pay for its construction. The public would want to know. If it was a donation, who donated?. For all we know this is Zimbabwean public funds which were used to build a private residence.

b) Gushungo Dairy: The dairy boasts of modern sophisticated dairy equipment money can buy. Again, what is the value of the equipment which was installed ? Who paid for it?. Public funds again as Bob has never run a tuck shop and generated any money which is known by the general public.

c) Mazowe Estates: The building of the orphanage and school (reputedly charging very expensive fees) at Mazowe are another exhibition of the profligacy of the Mugabes. Not only were public funds diverted to this narcissistic project, people were displaced from the area in order to make way for the buildings and also for the mooted game reserve by Grace. Zimbabweans will remember, as we watched helplessly, the stranded families with small children by the roadside in the winter months in Mazowe when innocent families were forcibly evicted from the land required by Grace. A resident minister even boasted at that time that Grace would be given as much land as she wanted! To top it all, Grace grabbed a state asset (built by the state in the 1920s), Mazowe dam, for her exclusive use. Locals who used to fish in the dam and also used it for recreational purposes were now trespassing on to “her” property. State security personnel were now enforcing this brazen theft .

d) Bona’s Mansion: The former president’s daughter has never worked in her life. Her husband was given a job at Air Zimbabwe despite him holding no recognizable qualifications in the aviation industry or anywhere for that matter. The couple are in the process of building a mansion (by a Chinese firm) in the Chishawasha hills, just outside Harare. Where would a young couple like that , without any financial means of their own, be able to build a mansion in the most affluent part of Harare and Zimbabwe in general. Her father is on record lamenting that Zimbabwe lost US$15 billion of diamond revenue from the Chiadzwa diamond fields in the eastern Zimbabwe and no one has been asked about it let alone arrested for the loss. Surely Zimbabweans can put two and two together!

e) Hong Kong Flat : It is well documented that there was a flat where Bona used to stay when she was studying Hong Kong. The flat had been bought by the Mugabes through a third party Chinese national who then reneged to transfer the flat to the Mugabes. The Mugabes were to take the matter to courts but the case fizzled out before it went to court. If it had gone to court, will the Mugabes have claimed the flat as theirs or as a property owned by the government of Zimbabwe ? If owned by the former, where did they get money from ? If owned by the latter, was this done above board? Why would the Zimbabwe government engage a shady third party to buy a property on its behalf. What has happened to that property as of now? There are also rumors of other Mugabe properties in Malaysia.

f) South African Houses: Recently, sometime last year, it was widely reported in the South African media that Grace Mugabe had bought a house in Johannesburg worth R44 million ( roughly US$3.6 million). And apparently this is in addition to other reputed properties in South Africa owned by the Mugabes. Where would they get the money to buy, cash, high value properties like these. Bob’s salary and other benefits do not allow him that type and amount of access to such amounts of cash. So , where did it come from?

g) Rented House in Dubai: Recently Grace also mentioned that they did not have any property in Dubai . She claimed that they only used to rent at US$500,000 a year, accommodation when Robert jnr was studying there. Half a million dollars for rented accommodation for a student.! That is luxury at the highest end. Bob’s salary alone could not have paid for this accommodation. Therefore, who paid?. The Mugabes or the state/Zimbabwean public? Most likely the latter.

h) The Ring: Where did Grace get the US$1.5 million to buy a ring? She has never worked apart from being a typist and typists don’t earn this type of money anywhere in the world. Could this be public funds which she wanted to externalize when she cancelled the deal and demanded the money be refunded into an external account.?

i) The Farms: The number of farms the Mugabes have is rumoured to range from 14 to 21. This is from a man who spearheaded a chaotic land reform program under the mantra of “one family one farm”. How hypocritical can one get. In fact he is worse than the white farmers whom he lambasted in public as being selfish. Not only that, he leased out some of the farms to whites, an action which he threatened hellfire for anyone found out leasing farms to whites!! He was doing it. Ian Smith had one farm and he must be laughing from his grave about the so called “war of liberation”!

j) Cars and Lifestyle : The Mugabe boys and Grace recently imported expensive vehicles into the country. How did they pay for them? The wild lifestyle of the boys sporting very expensive watches and drinking the most expensive drinks around. Surely there must have been lots of money where that came from. Methinks it’s the $15 billion lost money!!!

stolen diamonds can buy you lots of lovely things !