NESTLÉ has bowed to international pressure and will stop buying milk from a former white-owned farm seized by Grace Mugabe.
In a statement posted on the company's website late yesterday, Nestlé Zimbabwe said it would no longer buy milk directly from Gushungo Dairy Estate starting this Sunday. Nestlé Zimbabwe was buying up to a million litres of milk per year from the f
arm, which was seized Robert Mugabe's wife at the height of his violent land reform programme.
Nestlé Zimbabwe's decision will be seen as a victory by South African rights group AfriForum , which launched a campaign this week to persuade consumers worldwide to boycott Nestlé products if the company did not stop buying milk from Mrs Mugabe by 7 October.
AfriForum described Gushungo's product as "blood milk".
"Mugabe and his inner circle obtained this wealth by violently repressing thousands of people," AfriForum said on its campaign website www.Nestlébloodmilk.com.
Nestlé Zimbabwe said it had taken the decision to purchase from Gushungo Dairy Estate on a temporary basis starting in February.
The statement said: "We believe that this announcement reflects our long-term commitment to Zimbabwe while acknowledging the specific circumstances around these events."
Gushungo Dairy Estate, about 20km from Harare, was seized in 2002. Mr Mugabe recently commissioned a computerised milk parlour at the farm. Russell Goreraza, Mrs Mugabe's son from her first marriage, is the estate manager.
With her penchant for fancy clothes and foreign shopping trips, locals have nicknamed Mrs Mugabe Zimbabwe's Marie-Antoinette. She pays workers just £25 a month but charges 62p per litre of milk – double the price of other local suppliers.
