Former Minister Munacho Mutezo’s Farm Assets Set For Auction Over US$750,000 Debt

Farm machinery and livestock belonging to former Water Resources Minister Munacho Mutezo were scheduled to be auctioned today in Odzi, Manicaland Province, to recover a US$750,000 debt owed to a former business partner.

Mutezo has been fighting since November last year to stop the sale of assets at Fernicary Farm, also operating as Rutendo Farm in Manicaland.

Megamania Glow Auctioneers issued a public notice confirming that the minister’s farm equipment would be put up for sale. The notice reads:

“Des Monies Farm (Pvt) Ltd vs Fernicary Farm trading as Rutendo Farm HCHC123/22.”

The assets scheduled for auction include a John Deere harvester with wheat and maize heads, a 500kVA power transformer, a 78x Main Pipeline 250mm, a 24kVA Kipor industrial generator, a 90hp pump, a 110hp electric motor, and another 90hp pump.

Mutezo’s livestock, comprising seven heifers, six cows, one bull, and four calves, is also set to be auctioned at a date yet to be announced.

Mutezo was represented in court by Mangwana and Partners, while Des Moines Farm was represented by Taona Sibanda, instructed by Brian Majamanda.

Two weeks ago, High Court Judge Justice Samuel Deme dismissed Mutezo’s attempt to block the asset seizure.

The court rejected his interpleader application, in which he claimed some of the attached assets belonged to the government.

The debt arises from a lawsuit filed by Des Moines Farm, which demanded US$750,000, or the local currency equivalent at the prevailing interbank rate, for infrastructural improvements made to Fernicary Farm.

The claim also sought 5% annual interest from the date of summons and legal costs on an attorney-client scale. The court ruled that Fernicary Farm must pay US$455,000 in compensation plus legal costs.

To enforce the ruling, the sheriff attached several movable assets at the Odzi-based farm in Makoni.

In his affidavit, Mutezo argued that six of the attached items were government property, issued under the 2007–2008 farm mechanisation programme by then Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, and therefore immune from seizure in private debt matters.

Des Moines Farm countered that Mutezo had failed to name the government as a party to the case, calling his attempt to involve the State in a personal debt dispute “unacceptable and regrettable.”

Mutezo was expelled from ZANU PF in 2016 for allegedly supporting former Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s unsuccessful bid to succeed the late President Robert Mugabe.

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