[Debate] (Fwd) Zim tycoons: case of "$9bn" Mujuru empire

[Patrick Bond]

logo <http://www.swradioafrica.com>
Tuesday 17 July 2012


  Mujuru's estate valued at $9 Billion
  <http://www.swradioafrica.com/2012/07/17/mujurus-estate-valued-at-9-billion/>

Posted by Tichaona Sibanda <http://www.swradioafrica.com/author/tich/> 
on Tuesday, July 17, 2012 in Corruption 
<http://www.swradioafrica.com/Zimbabwe_News_Radio_Short_Wave_politics/corruption/>, 
military 
<http://www.swradioafrica.com/Zimbabwe_News_Radio_Short_Wave_politics/military/>, 
ZANU PF 
<http://www.swradioafrica.com/Zimbabwe_News_Radio_Short_Wave_politics/zanu-pf/> 
| 2 comments 
<http://www.swradioafrica.com/2012/07/17/mujurus-estate-valued-at-9-billion/#comments> 


The late General Solomon Mujuru

By Tichaona Sibanda
17 July 2012

Unconfirmed reports suggest the late General Solomon Mujuru left behind 
an estate worth an estimated US$9 billion, sources said on Tuesday.

The sources, citing correspondence between lawyers representing the 
general's family and children, said it looks like there is going to be a 
big battle for the estate. Complicating matters is the fact that many of 
the children were born to women other than his wife Joice.

Earlier this year Vice President Joice Mujuru shocked guests at a 
memorial service for her late husband by lifting the lid on his cheating 
love life, describing him as a womanizer. She also promised to welcome 
children fathered by the General out of wedlock, as long as DNA tests 
proved the paternity.

'If there is anywhere where my husband reached, he left a mark in my 
house. Any child who comes to claim that he belongs to the Mujuru 
family, he will have to undergo DNA tests,' the Vice-President said.

Since that announcement SW Radio Africa is reliably informed that the 
number children claiming to have been sired by the whisky loving General 
has risen to almost 50, from an initial 15.

Mujuru, one of Zimbabwe's most decorated army generals, died in a fire 
at his farm in Beatrice, about 100km south west of Harare. He was 62. 
The business mogul was husband to the current Vice President Joice.

Before his death Mujuru was well known for his diverse business 
ventures, which included mining, agriculture, transport, tourism and 
investment in the construction industry.

A finance expert told us that for the executor to come out with such a 
huge figure he would have looked at anything that had a value, such as 
money in banks, houses and land, including farmland, businesses, or 
business assets.

'There is lot of things that they also look at and that includes 
investments such as stocks and shares, including family shares and 
personal belongings,' the expert said.

But Luke Zunga, an economic analyst told us he believed that the figure 
will be reduced considerably when the executor and lawyers settle 
Mujuru's debts and liabilities.

'These can be outstanding mortgages, bank overdrafts and taxes paid out 
to the treasury. But Mujuru is one of many top ZANU PF officials to have 
amassed so much wealth over a long period of time.

'These people have been in power for more than 30 years and can you 
imagine the impunity, with which they corruptly amassed that wealth 
without any hindrance from the police or anyone,' Zunga said.

Although extremely rich and powerful, Mujuru remained modest and 
assuming and always shied away from the limelight. He however displayed 
a ruthless streak when building his substantial business empire.

In 2001 he targeted white commercial farmer Guy Watson-Smith and 
violently removed him off his two farms in Beatrice. Ironically he died 
on one of these farms.

Watson-Smith was made to leave the Alamein and Elim farms with only his 
briefcase. Mujuru sold off all his property including lorries, tractors, 
irrigation equipment and household furniture. The farmer and his family 
fled to South Africa soon after their lawyers filed a High Court 
application against Mujuru, who had taken assets worth an estimated 
US$2.5 million. Watson-Smiths lawyers in the case were attacked and 
assaulted.

Another insight into Mujuru's character was to come when he sued the now 
defunct Horizon Magazine over a story he felt was defamatory. On 
realising that the editor of the magazine, Andy Moyse, was white Mujuru 
is reported to have told the court: "If I had known white people had 
defamed me, I would have shot them."

Before his wife became vice-president, she was known for blocking a bid 
to set up Zimbabwe's first mobile phone network in the early 1990s. As 
Information Minister she blocked Econet long enough for Telecel to set 
up. Telecel was part owned by her husband.

In April 2004 Mujuru controversially took over the River Ranch diamond 
mine, with the help of Adel Abdul Rahman al Aujan, a millionaire Saudi 
real estate developer. The previous owners Adele and Michael Farquhar 
were forced off the property by police at gunpoint. Despite the courts 
passing judgement in favour of the Farquhar's, Mujuru continued to 
occupy and mine the area.

When the Mineral Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe refused to buy the 
diamonds from this mine, Mujuru flexed his muscles in the ZANU PF 
Central Committee and had the entire board replaced. Allegations have 
been made that the mine is being used to launder some of the diamond 
plunder from contracts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, secured by 
Mujuru and his allies. This is because their production numbers don't 
tally with revenue.

SW Radio Africa also revealed how Mujuru's daughter, Nyasha del Campo, 
tried to set up a deal on behalf of her parents involving illegal gold 
from the DRC. She and her husband Pedro live in the Spanish capital 
Madrid and set up two companies there, allegedly with the help and 
financial support of the parents. The deal involved shipping about US$35 
million worth of gold nuggets per month to Switzerland.

Firstar, a company with offices in Europe, said Mujuru's daughter 
offered to sell them the gold from the DRC. The company said it withdrew 
from the deal when it realized who Nyasha was. The company also claimed 
that Vice President Joice Mujuru then phoned their Chief Executive in 
Europe, demanding that the decision be reversed.

The retired general once declared he didn't fight the liberation war to 
end up a poor man.

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