Alamein Farm Explained

Alamein Farm
Coordinates:-18.3256°N 30.7978°W
Area:5000ha
Produce:Maize, Rhodes grass, tobacco

Alamein Farms, also known as Ruzambu Farm, is a 5,000 hectare farm at Beatrice, in the Mashonaland East area of Zimbabwe, 72 km south of the capital Harare. It was a highly productive commercial farming operation, employing around one thousand people and producing large quantities of tobacco, maize and Rhodes grass, as well as cattle and farmed game. The farm gained notoriety in 2002, when General Solomon Mujuru and his wife, Zimbabwean Vice President Joice Mujuru, evicted the farm owner and all farm inhabitants[1] under the auspices of the Land Reform Programme, and became the first of President Robert Mugabe's inner circle to be found guilty of unlawful land seizures.[2] [3] Under General Mujuru, the farm continued to produce tobacco, maize and game.[4] Farm workers also produced their own tobacco on land allocated to them.[5]

Further notoriety was to follow in August 2011, with the death of General Mujuru in the farm homestead in circumstances that many commentators and politicians describe as suspicious.[6] [7] [8] [9]

Notes and References

  1. News: We were given minutes to leave . Scott . Caroline . 10 February 2003 . Evening Standard . 8 February 2017.
  2. News: Evicted farmer sues for return of £2m assets . Thornycroft . Peta . 24 December 2001 . The Telegraph . 8 February 2017.
  3. Britain must act on Zimbabwe , The London Evening Standard, January 25, 2002
  4. News: Solomon Mujuru the farmer . The Sunday Mail . 21 Aug 2011 . 2011-08-23 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111005043712/http://www.zimpapers.co.zw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4969%3Asolomon-mujuru-the-farmer&catid=38%3Alocal-news&Itemid=131 . 2011-10-05 .
  5. News: Mujuru condolences pour. ZBC. 16 Aug 2011. 2011-08-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20110818144204/http://www.zbc.co.zw/news-categories/top-stories/11183-mujuru-condolences-ocme-in.html. 2011-08-18. dead.
  6. http://mg.co.za/article/2011-08-16-zimbabwes-general-solomon-mujuru-dies-in-fire Zimbabwe's General Solomon Mujuru dies in fire
  7. Securocrats, Candles and a raging dictatorship in Mail & Guardian, South Africa
  8. Mujuru death no accident in The Times
  9. Chiwenga ordered Mujuru assassination in Nehanda Radio