Nestlé happy with Zim operations

HARARE – Swiss multinational firm, Nestlé said at the weekend that it is happy with progress at its Zimbabwe factory after resuming operations following a two-week shutdown last year.

Nestlé, which has operated in Zimbabwe for the past 50 years, shut its Harare factory last month complaining of harassment by authorities after it stopped receiving milk supplies from Gushungo Dairy Estates owned by Grace Mugabe, the wife of President Robert Mugabe.

But the food manufacturer resumed operations on December 31 after a top government official reassured the firm on the safety of its staff and operations.

In a statement Nestlé said all its operations were functioning without any impediments.

“The factory, distribution centre and head office are working under normal conditions. We take this opportunity to thank you for your unfailing support as we celebrate our 50 years anniversary in Zimbabwe and wish you a happy New Year,” read part of the statement.

The factory shutdown was seen by many as a setback to efforts by the coalition government of Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to attract foreign investors, desperately needed to help resuscitate Zimbabwe's battered economy.

Nestlé, which until October had bought between 10 and 15 percent of milk processed at its Harare plant from Gushungo, stopped accepting milk from the farm after international media coverage of the milk purchases put the firm under the spotlight.

Some human rights groups, incensed at what they perceived as Nestlé’s support for Mugabe’s controversial farm seizure programme also threatened to call on consumers to boycott the company’s products if it did not stop buying Gushungo milk.

Grace was allocated Gushungo under her husband’s chaotic and often violent land reforms that also saw senior members of the military and Mugabe’s ZANU PF party, their friends and allies handed some of the best farms seized from whites.

Critics say Mugabe's farm seizure programme has ruined Zimbabwe’s once-prosperous economy. The veteran President, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, denies the charge and instead says Zimbabwe’s economic crisis was due to sanctions imposed by Western nations in response to his land reforms. – ZimOnline.