The owners of a major Zimbabwean horticultural company are to shift their business into Mozambique and Zambia, following the illicit occupation of their 224 hectare farm under Zimbabwe's chaotic land reform.
According to a report in the South African daily "Business Day", the Kondozi farm, in the eastern Zimbabwean province of Manicaland, used to supply horticultural produce to South African and European markets, and had a turnover of 15 million US dollars a year. The farm has had problems with illegal occupations since 25 December, when a group of government supporters, allegedly led by Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, invaded the Kondozi property.
The situation became much worse on 9 April when an armed gang, supposedly including members of the police and army, invaded the farm, and threw out its workforce. This affects about 5,000 farm workers and their families who lose their homes.
The Zimbabwean government's version of events is that Kondozi was occupied by the state-owned Agricultural and Rural Development Authority, but the Kondozi owners believe that top politicians incited what they regard as an illegal raid.
The end result is that a thriving company is about to leave Zimbabwe and take its money and know-how to Mozambique and Zambia.
The majority shareholder in the Kondozi company, Edwin Moyo, said last week that the Mozambican authorities are prepared to make 800 hectares of land available in the central province of Manica (where several other Zimbabwean investors are already operating).
Moyo says that his company has purchased a further 2,000 hectares in Gwembe Valley, in Zambia. He says his project "is equipped with state-of-the-art irrigation equipment".
Moyo added that his company has secured loans from the South African Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), Barclays Bank International, and the Dutch and British companies, Psom and Tescos. (Tescos is a major British supermarket chain, doubtless interested in purchasing high quality horticultural produce from southern Africa.) Edwin Moyo has given up hopes of recovering the Zimbabwean farm. "We will not waste any more time on Kondozi in Manicaland", he told the South African paper. "I have been rendered a second- class citizen in my country of origin so we will take our business elsewhere".
An immediate effect of this decision is a halt to construction of a pack house in the eastern Zimbabwean city of Mutare, that would have stored produce before its shipment to export markets. Now that investment, and the jobs that go with it, will be relocated to Mozambique.
Fonte: AIM
