President Mugabe's estate is in Darwendale district about thirty miles northwest of Harare, close to his tribal home. It lies adjacent to the large state-owned Lake Robertson, often called Darwendale Dam, which gives him access to unlimited water for irrigation.
The 4,000 hectare estate is made up of six farms, one of which is Highfield that Mr. Mugabe purchased in a normal commercial transaction nine years ago. Workers on the farms, the former farm owners, and current neighboring farms told VOA a group of veterans of the liberation war originally forced off most of the white owners of the remaining five farms between 2000 and 2002.
Then, the workers say, operations at the farm were taken over by the then government's Agricultural Rural Development Authority or ARDA. They add that in 2006, the properties were taken over by Mr. Mugabe, through one of his companies, known as Gushungo, his clan name.
Records seen by VOA show Mr. Mugabe has three holding companies registered at the deed's office in Harare, Gushungo Investments, Gushungo Security, and Gushungo Construction.
The war veterans involved in the original takeover told VOA they were happy to move off the land to make way for Mr. Mugabe because he is their hero for liberating them from white rule. They now live on adjoining farms which they say they struggle to farm because they have received little seed and other inputs from the government in recent years.
* VoA
