Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace Mugabe, according to The Zimbabwe Independent, have been leasing out the land to businessman Hamish Rudland.

This is a direct contradiction to what Mugabe himself always said at rallies where he attacked people who were accused of leasing land back to former white farmers arguing that they wanted to reverse the gains of the land reform programme.

The weekly private publication said Mugabe family seized 414 hectares of Interfresh’s land holdings, which translates to 39 percent of the arable land and rented it to the white farmer.

Former President Mugabe’s family and relatives are alleged to own 15 809 hectares of land across Zimbabwe.

After failing to fully utilize the land, Mugabe is said to have invited Rudland to enter into a joint farming venture.

As part of the deal, Mugabe would get 5 percent of the turnover while Rudland would use the land.

“We were approached by the former president, through his people with a view to helping him run the estate after the success of our Glenara Estates,” Rudland confirmed the deal to The Zimbabwe Independent.

“I think he was impressed by what he had seen at Glenara and could not say no. Who could have said no to his request? But it is a purely commercial transaction on our part; nothing else. We were and we still are not involved in politics, in any way, as we are business people or investors,” he said

Earlier this year, Grace Mugabe was reported to have grabbed the state-owned Mazowe Dam and prohibited villagers from using it.