WHILE the late former president Robert Mugabe’s daughter Bona and her estranged husband Simba Chikore are still locked in divorce proceedings and intense negotiations on property sharing, the controversial pilot has sold 100 cattle belonging to the couple, prompting contemplation of a police case against him.

This has set the stage for a dramatic and messy divorce which Bona is desperate to avoid to protect her name and family reputation. Chikore’s name is already mired in a series of controversial issues, including the Zimbabwe Airways scandal and the attempt to build a US$39 million mansion at the foot of a mountain next to Venue Umwinzii, in Umwinsidale.

The house is accessible through Carrick Creagh Road, Umwinsidale Road and Luna Road, which converge along the way from opposite directions.

However, the fight for the estate is likely to be fiercely contested as it involves a sentimental house at No. 40 Quorn Avenue in Mount Pleasant, Harare, where Mugabe first stayed when he became prime minister in 1980.

Chikore is demanding his pound of flesh.

One of the properties likely to trigger noise between Bona and Simba is the historic Mount Pleasant house donated to them during their wedding. But after Mugabe gifted them the Mount Pleasant house, the couple asked him to build them a house of their choice and dreams.

As the divorce negotiations intensify, it has now emerged Bona offered Chikore a house in Chishawasha, motor vehicles, cattle and other “significant assets” as part of the divorce settlement.

However, Chikore promptly rejected the offer, demanding, instead, to be given more properties, including in Harare’s upmarket Umwinsidale which Bona is holding onto on the grounds that they were donated to her through her late father’s estate.

An investigation by The NewsHawks in 2021 into the property development showed that the construction of the 25-room house is estimated to cost at least US$20 million. It was originally expected to cost US$39 million.

The imposing mansion sits on a 22-hectare tract of land that cascades down the mountain right to its foot in the Umwinsi River valley in Umwinsidale.

To put it into perspective, the house is built on land that is bigger than the Harare Gardens which sit on 21 hectares.