ZESA Swaps Tobacco for Forex Print Friendly Version

Source from:  International firms involved By Wilf Mbanga 05/16/2005

An international tobacco company, through its subsidiary in Zimbabwe, has teamed up with the energy utility ZESA to fund newly-settled growers on land appropriated from commercial farmers while paying its debts to a Chinese company. Universal Leaf Tobacco, an Amercian-based company, through Zimbabwe leaf Tobacco (ZLT) is paying the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority's debts with CATEC - a Chinese-based supplier of power equipment. Contacted in Harare for comment, the managing director of ZLT, Gary Wallace, confirmed this week that the company was acting as a facilitator for ZESA in the deal. "But make sure that your facts are correct, otherwise we will bring the lawyers in," Wallace warned me. "Don't publish bullshit - which is not the way things are," he added. Outlining the scheme, Wallace said it had been conceived and was administered by ZESA, who vetted the participating growers. The new tobacco farmers, located mainly in the Mashonaland provinces, signed contracts with ZESA - who paid them for their crops, he said. ZLT then paid CATEC in return for the tobacco. Wallace denied that the foreign currency provided by his firm had been used to purchase the new K8 jetfighters from China, as alleged by a statement in The Zimbabwean's possession. Reports from Zimbabwe have suggested that international tobacco companies with local subsidiaries, fighting for their survival, are forward-selling tobacco produced on stolen farms to pay for Mugabe's Chinese shopping list - which includes jetfighters, tanks, personnel carriers, AK-47 rifles and sophisticated bugging technology. The new farmers could soon find themselves at the centre of international legal disputes as lawyers for the farmers seek compensation. Like many commercial farmers. Who were kicked off their land while their tobacco crops were still in the field, Joe Whaley had his farm taken over by one of Mugabe's relatives, Chester Mhende. "Mhende walked on to Joe's farm two year's ago, as the tobacco crop was about to be reaped. With the help of the Zanu PF heavies and th epolice, he prevented Joe from taking anything off the farm. The tobacco crop was reaped and sold,"said a friend of Whaley's this week. He alleged that the crop was bought by ZLT. When asked to comment on this allegation, Wallace told The Zimbabwean "ZLT might have bought Mhende's crop through the auction floors - we don't know." In addition to having reaped the crop, Mhende has been using the equipment on the farm and has never paid a cent to Whalley - who has now secured a high court injunction confirming that he is the rightful owner of the farm and that Mhende has to get off. The police, however, have refused to act - saying the matter is political and their hands are tied - according to our informant. In what would appear to be a related development, ZESA announced at the weekend that it would clear its debt with Eskom - currently US$2.4 million - by the end of this month. The parastatal thanked the Reserve Bank for making this possible. Zimbabweans have reported crippling power cuts during the past few weeks. Enditem