A RECENT court case has exposed the First Family as having more than one farm, with First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa owning a farm in Glendale, while her husband, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has Precabe Farm in Kwekwe.
The case involved two soldiers and a District Development Fund driver who were sentenced to 15 months in prison by Concession magistrate Joshua Nembaware for stealing from the First Family.
In mitigation, they told the court that they stole the equipment because they wanted to raise money for their children’s school fees.
Tazvitya Kutuka (38) and Perioge Chikuya (46), along with their accomplice Tolucky Kambakuku (43) will, however, only serve six months each of their sentences since nine months were conditionally suspended.
Prosecutor Precious Khanye said sometime in August last year the soldiers were deployed at the First Family farm in Glendale to supervise construction of a warehouse.
Kambakuku, who is a tractor driver at the farm, connived with the soldiers to steal building materials including bricks, roofing sheets, cement and roofing trusses.
Following on a tip off, the police arrested Kambakuku who was found in possession of the stolen property, and he implicated the two soldiers.
All the stolen property valued at US$3 238,50 was recovered.
Nembaware said the accused betrayed the trust placed on them by the First Lady, adding that they showed no respect for her hence a deterrent sentence was called for to send a message to would-be embezzlers.
The case has inadvertently exposed that the First Family could be multiple farm owners.
Last year, Mnangagwa initiated phase 2 of the land audit, which aimed to investigate over 220 000 farms allocated to indigenous farmers during the land reform programme.
The exercise was intended to uncover individuals who owned multiple farms and those who were leasing farms without authorisation from the Lands ministry.
However, the findings of the land audit have not been made public as it emerged that several government officials, including ministers, were multiple farm owners.
— NewsDay
