Blessings Chidakwa in Kadoma
About 300 hectares at the Cotton Training Centre here has courted controversy over its ownership amid reports that Government is not getting its dues from current tenants.

The centre is being leased out to several other business entities.

There are also reports that those occupying the farm and facilities might have generated millions of dollars since the farm was gazetted in 2005.

The tenants have also reportedly pocketed money while ostensibly offering field training for cotton farmers in Sanyati District and other areas. Investigations have, however, revealed that the Cotton Training Centre, at Itafa Farm, about five kilometres from Kadoma City, was gazetted under LA 5613/05.

It was registered under the Trustees of Commercial Growers Association of Zimbabwe. In an interview, Sanyati district administrator Mr Amigo Mhlanga expressed concern over operations at the Cotton Training Centre.

Mr Mhlanga, who is also the district lands committee chairperson, confirmed that Government was losing potential revenue due to the illicit deals at the farm.

He also expressed concern that some Government officials could be involved in the scum.

“I know the farm was gazetted and is ready for apportionment but there are people occupying it without offer letters while there suspected unlawful deals including a school,” he said.

He said Maranatha Group of Schools, also occupying the place, was not paying anything to Government but to the illegal occupiers.

“There is also a farmer who is into cattle ranching and two seed companies with demo-fields but Government is also not getting anything from their activities.”

Mr Mhlanga said the Group Five, a South African company which worked on the rehabilitation of the Plumtree-Bulawayo-Harare-Mutare Highway, also rented the premises but no rentals were received by the State.

Approached for comment, Cotton Training Centre director Mr Afios Mseva, who is alleged to be in charge of operations at the farm including leasing out properties, refused to comment on the matter.

Mashonaland West provincial lands officer Mr Malvin Mhaka referred all enquiries to his superiors in Harare while provincial lands committee chaiperson, Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs Minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka said she was not privy to the case.

However, an official in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement who spoke on condition of anonymity, said efforts to resettle people at the farm had been blocked.

“The Cotton Training Centre closed with Government opting to follow up on farmers for field training as a cost cutting measure.

“There should have been lease agreements between Ministry of Lands and all those institutions operating at the farm including Maranatha, K2 Seeds, but no such documents are in Government’s possession,” said the source.

According to minutes of a meeting on February 21, 2017, chaired by former District Administrator Mr Kenneth Shumba, the Cotton Training Centre indicated that it had 120 employees, ran by a Trust, with Agritex having a stake.

Agritex, according to the minutes, entered into partnership with K2 for research and commercial maize growing, but there is no information on how the Trust funds are reaching Government.

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