HARARE – The offices of the Mutapa Investment Fund are now located at 49 Kew Drive, a residential address in the affluent Highlands suburb.
This property holds historical significance as the former residence of Morgan Tsvangirai, the founding president of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The state purchased the house during the Government of National Unity period (2009-2013) to serve as the official residence of the Prime Minister.
Following the dissolution of the GNU, Tsvangirai continued to reside in the house, which also became a de facto headquarters for his faction of the opposition during the tumultuous period between the 2013 election and the 2017 coup. Ownership of the property remained unresolved.
In early 2018, when Tsvangirai was ill, President Emmerson Mnangagwa offered to gift him the house. However, after Tsvangirai’s death, Mnangagwa wrote to his widow, Elizabeth Tsvangirai, offering to sell the property to her for US$1.8 million, payable over 60 months.
Local reports indicated that the price was eventually negotiated down to $1.5 million. Elizabeth Tsvangirai, daughter of Joseph Macheka, a politburo member of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), retained the house and listed it for rent through her real estate business, Royal Properties and Construction. Over time, the property fell into disrepair, with shabby paint and under-watered plants.
In 2023, images circulated on social media showing members of the ZANU-PF Economic Empowerment Group, adorned with party scarves and raised fists, at the house on Kew Drive for a conference. The property has since undergone a transformation, with walls repainted gunmetal grey and a large blue Mutapa Investment Fund sign installed over the electric gate.
This residence, once a hub for opposition activists and politicians, now serves a new purpose as the head office for the ruling party’s top financiers. The irony of its new role underscores the shifting political landscape in Zimbabwe.
