Makamba gets shopping centre back

Herald Reporter

Government is returning the shopping complex on Maryvale Farm, Mazowe, to businessman and politician Dr James Makamba.

Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement Perrance Shiri yesterday confirmed that the shopping centre on the farm, the Blue Ridge Spar or Sweet Valley supermarket, and two adjacent shops had been returned to Dr Makamba.

The process of demarcating boundaries and paperwork was still in progress, but Dr Makamba can now utilise the shopping centre.

Farmers surrounding the complex will be updated.

During land reform, Dr Makamba was allocated the farm before he secured a loan of about $14 billion from CBZ focusing on earning foreign currency through horticulture.

Dr Makamba built from scratch, a road facing the shopping complex where Blue Ridge Spar was the main anchor store.

The complex drew customers from the extreme north of Harare, travellers on the highway between Harare and Mazowe, and residents in the southern part of the rural district.

However, when the complex was closed following Dr Makamba’s fallout with then President Mugabe, about 450 employees were also affected.

In 2017, Dr Makamba returned to Zimbabwe and said he had answered the call by President Mnangagwa for Zimbabweans to return, help rebuild the economy and make the country great again.