By ETimes
Newly formed Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association (Zitoga) top brass, Mutandwa Mutasa, Believe Tevera, and George Seremwe have been arrested and are currently being detained at Southerton Police.
Zitoga is an amalgamation of four Associations – Tobacco Association of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Progressive Tobacco Farmers Association, Tobacco Farmers Union Trust; and Tobacco Farmers Union Of Zimbabwe, with a total membership of 50 000 Growers.
Zitoga is pressing Tobacco Industry and Marketing Body (TIMB) to deregister the tobacco contracting firm, Voesdel Tobacco, in a bid to force the company to pay tobacco farmers for tobacco delivered last year.
According to TIMB, Voedsel failed to pay some of its farmers in the past two years and was declared an “unsuitable player.”
With buying facilities in various tobacco-growing regionsincluding Rusape, Marondera, and Karoi, Voedsel was among the major financiers of tobacco under contract schemes.
Voedsel, however, has been on several occasions blamed for side marketing – HARARE
