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Harare - Work on the multi-million-dollar home of Robert Mugabe’s daughter, Bona has stalled in the wake of last month’s military takeover, a private newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The home is under construction by Chinese contractors in Harare's upmarket Umwinsidale suburb, in the east of the city. Locals had been left in awe at the speed with which a wooded hilltop was carved up to make way for the new property, reports the private NewsDay.
Construction began in May, but stopped after Mugabe was forced to resign on November 21. The property developer appears to have pulled out, the paper said, though a worker at the site denied this.
Guarded by police
"The main contractor sub-contracted another Chinese national, who then moved away his earth-moving equipment at the beginning of the Mugabe crisis," a worker at the site told the paper.
"He is not the main contractor and his departure doesn't affect business here."
The building site is guarded by police officers, and trespassing is forbidden.
Bona is the oldest of Mugabe's three children. She is married to former airline pilot Simba Chikore, who recently resigned from a top post at Air Zimbabwe.
A resident told the paper that the couple was occasionally spotted at the building site monitoring progress.
'Friendly to people'
"They would pass through here and they were friendly to people," said the unnamed resident.
On Tuesday a video emerged on social media of a mansion said to belong to former cabinet minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, who was a key ally of former first lady, Grace Mugabe.
Kasukuwere is understood to have fled the country. His house is being guarded by soldiers, reportedly to protect it from vandals.
