Inside Zimbabwe's $60bn 'Cyber City': Luxury, Power and the Politics of Land

In 2022, Zimbabwe announced plans to build a 'cyber city' near the capital, Harare. Branded 'Zim Cyber City', the project sits in the rural area of Mount Hampden on a site of 185,000 square metres, according to officials. The project promises luxury villas, free-trade zones, and Dubai-style shopping malls. Led by UAE-based Mulk International, it is designed around cryptocurrency services and high-rises.

Political analysts and ordinary citizens have criticised it as a vanity project in a country already struggling with crumbling infrastructure. Stephen Chan, an outspoken critic of the Zimbabwean government who has previously been forcibly deported from the country, dismissed the Cyber City plans as a vanity project by a ruling elite whose priority, he said, is to keep the poverty of the masses out of sight of the privileged. Critics have also raised concerns over the reported displacement of local communities.

Among those affected is Enock Duma, a 65-year-old vegetable and goat farmer who has lived and worked in Mount Hampden for more than three decades. On his two-hectare plot, he raises around 200 goats and grows vegetables. Today, however, Duma fears losing the land that has sustained him and his family for most of his life. His farm lies within the area earmarked for the new city.

'Is this what it means now to be a citizen of Zimbabwe, a farmer who feeds the nation? What'll happen to our dignity if we get expelled?' he wondered in an interview with FairPlanet.

In 2024, authorities instructed him to vacate his farm and offered him US$4,000 in compensation, 'an insult', he said, noting that valuators he commissioned had estimated the property's worth at almost US$40,000. FairPlanet was not able to review that valuation independently.

Duma is one of many small-scale farmers who, according to him, have been asked to relocate from Mount Hampden after living and farming there for decades. They have been offered compensation packages ranging from US$3,000 to US$5,000, which several told FairPlanet they considered inadequate given the value of their land and livelihoods.

Farmers Face Forced Relocation

Zimbabwean authorities reject accusations that affected residents are being treated unfairly. Speaking at a press conference attended by FairPlanet in April 2026, Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe said the government had set aside US$75 million to compensate farmers and other landholders affected by the project. While government officials have not specified the total number of households impacted or the methodology behind their financial assessments, the emerging picture is that of some affected farmers facing hurdles in getting a swift, fair deal.

Some farmers argue that compensation offers fail to reflect not only the value of the land but also their own investments made over decades. Among them is Jumail Phiri, a 40-year-old goat and potato farmer whose family has lived in Mount Hampden since 1979, when his father migrated from neighbouring Mozambique and settled in the area.

Phiri said he had been given 60 days to vacate his land and offered US$4,000 in compensation for property that he says independent valuators estimated to be worth around four times the compensation amount. 'Being asked to move because of the cyber city fills me with dread,' he said.

'Coercing people to move for low compensation, against their will, is unethical. This will throw families into homelessness and poverty, creating a class of internal "stateless" families,' said Bulelani Jongwe, a Baptist cleric who has been engaging authorities over compensation and providing counselling to affected residents.

While the project has been promoted as a future high-tech hub, construction remains at an early stage. Large parts of the site remain undeveloped, with Zimbabwe's new parliament building — a Chinese-funded structure completed in Mount Hampden — among the most prominent developments in the area so far.

Jongwe questions whether the government has the capacity to deliver a project of such scale. 'Building a cyber city is a nice-sounding cliché, but the hard work of erecting kilometres of drainage systems, gas pipelines, sewer works, and vast arrays of new roads is not a job for the faint-hearted,' he said.

Grand Plans, Limited Progress

To date, the development of Zimbabwe's cyber city has seen little success. Aside from the country's new parliament building, the site remains stretches of undeveloped land.

Mulk International has promoted Zim Cyber City as a mixed-use development featuring luxury housing, commercial districts, and a special economic zone for digital assets and blockchain-related services. However, whether Zimbabwe has the resources and infrastructure needed to deliver a project of such scale is unclear.

'Harare is dirty, has had no reliable tap water for years, and is so overcrowded that property developers are invading wetlands. We don't think this reckless government can pull off an expensive project of this magnitude — building a brand new hi-tech city when you don't have running drinking water in your capital,' Jongwe argued.

Zimbabwean authorities do not share these concerns. John Bhasera, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, told FairPlanet that affected residents would be treated fairly throughout the relocation process. 'It's not true that the government is giving subpar compensation. All compensation will be market-related — determined by independent valuators — and no one will be left homeless by this process,' he said. Bhasera described the cyber city as a project of 'great' national importance and said most affected families had agreed to relocation.

Mulk International referred questions regarding compensation and relocation to the Zimbabwean government.

A Pattern Across the Continent

Across Africa, governments and private investors have launched ambitious plans for new cities intended to attract investment, technology firms and affluent residents. While some projects like Rwanda's Kigali Innovation City are off the ground and have progressed, others like Modderfontein have struggled to move beyond the planning stage or have faced criticism over their affordability, environmental impact and benefits for local communities.

In Senegal, for example, the highly publicised Akon City project, initiated in 2020 by the musician Akon, was officially abandoned in 2025 after years of delays and funding difficulties. South Africa's Modderfontein New City near Johannesburg, a multibillion-dollar development backed by Chinese investors, was never fully realised because of disputes with local authorities and changing market conditions.

For critics such as Jongwe, the concerns about Zim Cyber City extend beyond compensation and relocation. They point to a broader history of land disputes linked to large-scale investment projects in Zimbabwe. Researchers have documented cases in which mining developments, including some involving Chinese companies, were associated with displacement, environmental damage and loss of livelihoods. Jongwe fears the same pattern could repeat itself in Mount Hampden.

'Zimbabwe's Cyber City, if it ever becomes reality, will bankrupt our nation — apart from displacing vulnerable families,' Jongwe said. To him, the development reflects a broader pattern in which large-scale investment projects are pursued at the expense of local communities. 'This is an elite project, shrouded in secrecy, being built on the land of the most powerless in society,' he said.

Who Gets a Say?

Civil society groups argue that the dispute is not only about compensation, but about how development is planned and who gets a say in it. Juda Gata, farmer rights secretary at the Zimbabwe Informal Traders Council, said affected residents should have been consulted years before construction began and given sufficient time to prepare for relocation.

'They should have been given enough time to explore new livelihoods, establish business networks elsewhere so they could be relocated with dignity and be able to continue their farming,' he said.

Gata believes compensation should go beyond cash payments. He argues that relocated families should be offered alternative farmland, secure land tenure and support to rebuild their livelihoods, including access to farming equipment, irrigation technology and affordable loans.

For residents like Enock Duma, such measures could make the difference between displacement and a genuine fresh start. As construction plans move forward in Mount Hampden, the question facing authorities is not only how to build a new city, but whether the people who have long lived on the land will have any place in its future.