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Mugabes plan a sweet hit on chocolate market

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Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe (right) takes then Malawian president Joyce Banda on a tour of the Gushungo dairy plant in 2013.
Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe (right) takes then Malawian president Joyce Banda on a tour of the Gushungo dairy plant in 2013.

Angolans are in for a treat. As early as next week, their supermarkets could be stocked with chocolates and ice cream produced with milk from a farm owned by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace.

The dairy farm, owned by Zimbabwe’s first couple, produces milk and other dairy products under its business name of Alpha Omega and it is now open for business.

Last week, selected guests were given a tour of the Gushungo Holdings farm by the company’s assistant general manager Joseph Zirebwa, who told them everything was now in place.

“The chocolate and ice cream manufacturing plants have already been installed. Within a week we should already have the ice cream on the market,” he said.

So far, yogurt and milk have been the major products of the enterprise that is wholly owned by the Mugabes. But now chocolate is being added to the mix.

Reports say the company’s products are destined for the southern African market, with the first port of call being Angola. But the Mugabes insist their farm is not a cash cow yet.

Last year, Grace Mugabe told a Zanu- PF gathering that the diary project had a debt of US$20 million (R238 million).

The money is owed to banks.

Zimbabwe’s national annual milk production has been on the rise ever since Alpha Omega ventured into the dairy industry two years ago.

But local milk producers only account for 45% of the market, which is dominated by milk produced in South Africa.

The Mugabes’ dairy venture was founded on a 1 000 hectare farm in Mazowe, a farming area 30km northwest of Harare.

The farm was bought from commercial farmer Ian Webster, who used to be a dairy farmer. He was forced to sell to the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority after which the Mugabes acquired the property.

In 2009, Swiss milk giant Nestlé bowed to international pressure to stop buying milk from the Mugabes. It was estimated Nestlé was buying an average of 1 million litres of milk from them annually.

In turn, Mugabe threatened action against the company, but now the two are rivals in the same market.

The Mugabes continue to invest in the project with state-of-the-art equipment. It is the pride of their farming venture and they have an estimated 2 000 dairy cows.

VIP guests who visit Zimbabwe, especially those who visit the Mugabes, are taken on a tour of the farm. In 2013, then president of Malawi Joyce Banda, vowed to send a Malawian delegation to study the Mugabes’ dairy project.

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