Just about two years after being ousted from office, Zimbabwe’s former President Robert Mugabe seems to be going through some financial difficulties as he is set to auction off cars and other farm equipment from his dairy farm.
A local auction firm has advertised plans to sell off several items from the Gushungo Dairy Farm Saturday morning.
“Duly instructed by our most valued client we shall sell by public auction vehicles and farm equipment at Gushungo Dairy Farm on Saturday,” the auctioneer, Ruby Auctions, said in a newspaper notice.
The items being auctioned include more than 40 vehicles – four Toyota Hilux pick-up trucks, three Scania horse trucks and a Mercedes Benz C-class limousine.
Massey Ferguson tractors, disc harrows and farm equipment, including four combine harvesters are also for sale, according to the advertisement.
Observers say that the move is to pay off debts owed by the business. According to The Herald, the business empire had not been doing well resulting in several lawsuits from different entities that claimed their dues.
A sales executive had earlier indicated that the farm’s sales were diminishing and that the company was operating at 58% of its capacity, reported the AFP.
After ruling the Southern African country for 37 years, Mugabe finally resigned on November 21, 2017.
The Zimbabwe National Army instigated an overthrow of his regime by placing him under house arrest for the crimes committed by individuals in his circle.
He was given the ultimatum to either resign by November 20, 2017, or face impeachment. He subsequently chose the former. Before leaving, Mugabe was said to have been preparing the grounds for Grace, to replace him.
His retirement sparked nationwide jubilations as Zimbabweans celebrated the dawn of a new era.
Mugabe’s vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, who he fired on November 6, was sworn in as the new president.
In April, Mnangagwa said 95-year-old Mugabe was in Singapore for medical treatment and should return home mid-May.
Zimbabwe had, since the beginning of this year, been in the midst of an economic crisis, struggling with widespread fuel and medicine shortages and a surge in inflation rate.
