As millions of his nation's citizens starve and thousands die weekly from HIV/AIDS, Zimbabwe's notoriously corrupt and rabidly anti-gay president Robert Mugabe can relax weekends at his ever-expanding 10,000 acre farm. The land was seized from private farmers under a program Mugabe started in 2000, reports the Daily Telegraph.
The Daily Telegraph located Mr Mugabe's private empire in the Darwendale area, near Mr Mugabe's tribal home, about 30 miles west of the capital Harare. It is made up of six farms, including five properties seized from white owners over the years.
The 1,100-acre Highfield farm near Mr Mugabe's tribal home was bought commercially but five others were seized from their white owners. Workers said they were now employed either by Mr Mugabe or "Gushungo", his family name, which is also the new name for the estate. "We were told the farms belong to the president," said the worker, who cannot be named for his own safety, or the farm on which he lives identified.
TThe total estate now stretches over 10,000 acres on the edge of Lake Robertson including homesteads, managers' cottages, workers' houses, huge barns, sheds, workshop.. The estate is valued at about £2 million and Mr Mugabe visits every three months or so.
Mugabe—who infamously described gays as "worse than dogs and pigs"—recently enacted tougher anti-sodomy legislation and a statute that makes simple touching between men a criminal offense. The southern African nation is now being governed by a power-sharing deal struck last year between Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
The UK-based Telegraph is obsessed with the white farmers who land was appropriated. That's only the tip of the iceberg. The takeaway should be that Mugabe is personally enriching himself at the expense of the impoverished and starving people. Oh and a $2 million USD farm in a country with 250% inflation? That ain't bad at all.
Mugabe Has Build Up 10,000 Ac Farm [DT]
Some Background ...
Mugabe Throws Lavish Party [R20]
Gay Activists in Zimbabwe Report "Shift" [R20]
Counterfeit AIDS Medications Flood Zimbabwe [R20]
Zimbabwe Cites U.S, Enacts Sweeping Surveillance [R20]
Zimbabwe Hunting Gay Activist [R20]
Gay Bashing in Zimbabwe Parliament [R20]
Zimbabwe: Good News and Bad [R20]
Zimbabwe "Doesn't Want All These People" [R20]
Zimbabweans Come Out Slowly [R20]
Zimbabwe Anchor Comes Out [R20]
Zimbabwe Gay Asylum Plea [R20]
[via Americablog]
