Tucked away a few kilometers off Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway at Ticehurst Business center (koBhenisi) lies an expansive 553-hectare farm commonly known as Esidakeni.

The property, once a thriving agricultural concern mainly on the lucrative dairy sector has been under media spotlight since Government gazetted it for land acquisition.

It is not the only farm to be gazetted for land acquisition to resettle landless Zimbabweans on the ever-growing waiting list. At present, the Lands and Agriculture and Rural Resettlement ministry sit on over 250 000 applications for land countrywide.

However, the acquisition of Esidakeni farm has torched so much controversy locally and internationally.

The Trio
It was expected though as prominent government critic Siphosami Malunga, a director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) that allegedly funds a number of 'hostile' civic groups, claims ownership of the farm with his co-partners Charles Moyo and Zephaniah Dhlamini.

Moyo is a businessman while Dhlamini is a scientist working at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust).

In court papers, the trio says it acquired the property for US$248 000. However, the government says the farm purchase was fraudulent.

"They are claiming to have bought shares in the property, but you cannot buy shares to a land that has been acquired by the government. Besides, they do not have any documentation showing that they own the property" Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs minister Richard Moyo is quoted saying.

On social media, Malunga, who does not hesitate to state he is a son of a national hero, has been painting a picture of a thriving dairy and horticultural farm.

But a visit to the area paints a sad picture of the state of affairs.

Infrastructure Collapse

Since August, Rural Digital Focus has been documenting infrastructure and agricultural activities at the vast estate against a litany of court papers and Twitter posts of a thriving agricultural venture generated by Malunga.

To say the farm is underutilized sounds like an understatement.

A rundown unmanned security guard cubic welcomes a visitor to the property.

Malunga paints a picture of an invaded secured property but security is lax.

A huge portion of the underutilized farm has no perimeter fence, unlike adjacent properties.

Vast tracts of land seem not to have been tilled for years. It is a dense forest.

Scrap metal scavengers have on several occasions been observed freely engaging in their illegal activities, with buyers milling around the property.

The few buildings at the estate are in an advanced state of dilapidation with telephone poles and lines close to the main entrance lies on the ground.

As of 4 December, the poles were still not taken care of.

A few meters away, there is a huge dairy facility now hardly visible as the feedlots are covered in overgrown grass.

The feedlots structures clearly show that they have been out of use for many seasons and would take huge amounts of capital to bring them up to recommended state before use.