[As you will see, people have been shot and killed outside Mugabe’s home in the past. Jan]

Robert Mugabe has designated the area around the 25-bedroom mansion he is building a “protected area”. The Zimbabwean president’s action comes as he faces calls to disclose the source of foreign currency used for the imported materials being used on the multi-million project. The designation means access is severely restricted and anyone who strays into the area or is caught taking photographs might land in hot water. Police can now shoot and kill transgressors, as has been done at Mugabe’s official residence, Zimbabwe House, in Harare. Several motorists have been shot and killed over the years for driving on the road between Zimbabwe House and State House after authorised hours. Mugabe’s private mansion in the plush suburb of Borrowdale has been under construction for five years and is now expected to cost more than R175-million. Apart from the locally-sourced bricks, gravel and cement, everything at the property is said to have come from China and Europe. The house is being built mainly by Yugoslav company Energo Project, though some work has been subcontracted. The project also involves construction of two sizeable dams around the mansion and extensive landscaping work.

Once the house is complete, Mugabe is expected to order the closure of nearby access roads for his exclusive use. The president is facing calls to disclose where he has been getting the foreign currency to purchase the imported materials – particularly after the arrest of Finance Minister Christopher Kuruneri. He is in jail after having been accused of illegally exporting foreign currency to South Africa, where he is reportedly building a R30-million mansion in Cape Town. A spokesperson for the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International said it was “absolutely essential” for Mugabe to disclose where and how he had been getting foreign currency. If it turned out that he had been drawing foreign currency from the Reserve Bank, then he would be guilty of abusing his office. Zimbabwe is mired in its worst foreign currency crisis following the collapse of the tobacco farming sector, mainly due to Mugabe’s indiscriminate land seizures.

The Reserve Bank has imposed stringent rules to prioritise the use of scarce foreign currency to import fuel and electricity. Zimbabwe does not have money to buy food for its people, and foreign donors have entirely met this responsibility. No-one is allowed foreign currency for “luxury imports” and scores of manufacturing companies have folded due to lack of currency to meet essential imports. Apart from his job as president, Mugabe has no other income. An official in the Ministry of Local Government and Housing said that even if Mugabe had been president for 500 years, he could hardly have financed the construction of such a mansion with his salary of less than R210 000 a year.

Source:Star (SA)
By Basildon Peta
URL: http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID…/p>