Multinational Swiss food giant Nestle on Tuesday sought to allay fears that it had resumed purchasing “blood milk” from a farm owned by the wife of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, insisting that it was maintaining its stance of sourcing milk “exclusively from contracted farmers.”

The Swiss-based company, which courted controversy last year after it emerged that it was the main buyer of milk from a dairy farm owned by Grace Mugabe, denied reports that it had apparently agreed to a deal that could see it once again indirectly buying milk from Gushungo Dairy Estate.

A Nestle spokesperson said that it no longer had any direct or indirect ties with Gushungo farm.

“Nestle reiterates its commitment to source milk exclusively from its contracted farmers,” the spokesperson said.

Nestle Zimbabwe shut down its Harare factory in December following weeks of pressure from pro-Mugabe militias and empowerment groups to resume purchases of milk from a dairy farm owned by the president’s wife.

It only resumed operations last week after an assurance by Industry Minister Welshman Ncube that milk from Gushungo Dairy Estate would now be absorbed by local processors and not the Swiss-based firm.

Nestle stopped buying from the dairy farm in October but not before an international protest by human rights groups which triggered calls for a worldwide boycott of its products.

The Zimbabwean First Lady reportedly gained control of the dairy as a beneficiary of her husband’s controversial and internationally criticised land-reform programme.

The decision to stop milk purchases from Mugabe’s Gushungo Dairy Estate did not go down well with local indigenous pressure groups led by the pro-Mugabe Affirmative Action Group (AAG) which said the move was tantamount to the company imposing sanctions on the country.

Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere and the AAG last month led a group of protesters that allegedly threatened Nestle with closure unless it resumed the milk purchases.

(Source)