Mansion right in the heart of rural Plumtree

By Fungai Muderere/Nkosilathi Sibanda

PLUMTREE – In 2011 on our first encounter with him, he told us that he wanted to build a state-of-the- art house in rural Plumtree for his family.

True to his word Obedingwa Mguni has completed the massive 27-roomed double storey mansion and only last Saturday we were in his home area, Macingwane, to confirm the completion of the project.

One expects to find such a beautiful mansion in suburbs for the affluent such as Bulawayo’s Selbourne Park or Borrowdale Brook in Harare. The state-of-the-art villa is therefore rare to find in rural Zimbabwe.

A visitor to the Mguni homestead could be forgiven for concluding that he or she is approaching a hotel or lodge. Mguni said he worked like a slave to enjoy his new-found status as King of Plumtree.

“This has come through hard work. You have to work for these things,” said Mguni.

The house is fully furnished, with Plasma TV screens, leather couches (in the many living rooms) fitted kitchen cupboards and a number of ensuite bedrooms. The man who since 2011 has been moving around in a Hummer H3, recently bought a brand new Hummer H4/FJ Cruiser for his wife, Clara.

The ‘king’ is a real man of the people. On the day he launched the Madlala Welfare Trust to cater for the elderly in his rural home, he donated tonnes of mealie-meal to his fellow villagers.

This was after he had also donated a compressor to the local war veterans chapter and a borehole cylinder and R11 000 to the community. Mguni said he enjoyed farming hence he had a lot of praise for Zimbabwe’s land reform programme.

He has since constructed a 100 000-litre reservoir to supply water to his garden where he grows vegetables. The reservoir is fed by four boreholes.

“We have also thought of being actively involved in agriculture, especially market gardening.

Mguni, a war veteran, said he was challenged by the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo, to always aspire for the better.

“The late Vice President Joshua Nkomo inspired me to aspire to be better. He once asked us what we will do after Independence? Most of us young fighters by then had dreams to live in Montrose in Bulawayo and other leafy suburbs. He would laugh at us and say go and build such houses in your home areas. I did exactly that,” said Mguni, who said he spent R4 million on his mansion.

Mguni gets the support from his wife, who admitted that it was very difficult to invest in rural areas.

“I’m happy to be living here. Yes, one would be expecting us to be living in a low-density suburb or anywhere in Bulawayo but as a family we are happy to be staying here. The children love this place and I love it. I initially had reservations but I am now enjoying the environment,” said Mrs Mguni.

She said the family had a house in Bulawayo’s Luveve suburb but was not staying there.

“We love this place in Macingwane. The children don’t like to stay in Bulawayo,” said Mrs Mguni.

The couple has been married for 22 years and is blessed with three children. The two girls and a boy were all born in South Africa. The Chronicle