Harare — IRRIGATION equipment worth millions of dollars and other farming implements are lying idle on Lynton Farm Plot 15 near Marondera while workers on the plot allege that they have not been paid since May.
The A2 plot measuring over 200 hectares belongs to the Secretary for Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, Mr Simon Pazvakavambwa.
Some people - including senior civil servants and politicians allocated pieces of land under the Government's land reforms - have been accused of underutilising the land, exposing the Government to criticism from its detractors in the process.
Workers on the farm said the farm used to be very productive but was now run down and feared for their future as the new owner was allegedly not committing himself to farming.
They cited tobacco barns and pigsties as some of the facilities that were going to waste.
The previous owner, Mr Mike Malzer, used to grow paprika, maize, tobacco and ran a thriving cattle ranch and piggery.
But, according to the workers, only one maize field and one groundnut field were planted last year.
There are 39 cattle and one calf on the farm.
The farm was divided into 24 A2 plots with Mr Pazvakavambwa securing the portion where the farmhouse is located.
The Herald visited the plot on Thursday and discovered that the irrigation equipment was lying idle and gathering dust.
Three tractors - two Fiats and one John Deere - a planter and two discs were seen at the farm.
Workers at the farm complained that they had not been paid and claimed that some workers stopped work on July 3 in protest over non-payment of wages.
Mr Witness Pazvakavambwa, a relative of Mr Pazvakavambwa, who is also employed at the farm, said workers were last paid a meagre salary of $52 000 each in May.
There are close to 15 workers on the farm but initially Mr Pazvakavambwa employed only four with the rest being hired during the last agriculture season.
He said Mr Pazvakavambwa last visited the farm three weeks ago but did not address the workers as he usually does. Other workers said they only heard of the visit.
But, Witness said, the fact that he was related to the permanent secretary had not made his situation any better. He was suffering just like the rest of the farmworkers.
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"I hope he will come and pay us," he said.
Another worker, Mr Owen Murisi, said some of the farmworkers were now contracted to other nearby farmers but continued to stay on Mr Pazvakavambwa's farm in the forlorn hope that he would one day come and pay them.
Some pregnant women on the farm showed gloomy faces as they narrated the hardships they were enduring as a result of the non-payment of salaries and wages.
The women said they had to rely on the generosity of well-wishers in the community to survive.
"Around this time Mr Malzer would have put tobacco and paprika seed and would be planting early maize for December," said one of the workers.
Mr Murisi said Mr Pazvakavambwa indicated to the workers that he would grow wheat this year but to this day nothing had happened.
Yesterday Mr Pazvakavambwa refused to comment on the operations on the farm.
He demanded that The Herald explain to him how it got wind of the fact that his farm was underutilised.
"I cannot talk to you unless you reveal your source. Reveal your story and I will tell you a story. I don't want to see a story in the paper tomorrow (today)," he said.
He let slip that his workers would be paid today.
