Robert Mugabe seizes former Rhodesian PM's family farm Mr Jarman managed the 4,000-acre cattle ranch when the former prime minister went to live in Harare after his wife died in 1994. Mr Smith left Zimbabwe after the death of his only child, Alec, in 2006, moving to Cape Town to be near his stepchildren. Mr Jarman said he is packing up the farm, trying to sell off some of the assets such as cattle, and paying retrenchment packages to long-time workers. There are about 10 workers who lived here and worked for Mr Smith for many years. His former gardener, Moroi Chata has nowhere to go and is very old and frail and I am appealing to the authorities to provide him with a home. Mr Smith declared independence from Britain in 1965, leading to a civil war that ended with a settlement ahead of the first non-racial elections in 1980, won by Mr Mugabe's Zanu PF party. Some 4,000 white farmers in Zimbabwe have had their land and homes taken by Mr Mugabe's supporters in seizures that began in 2000. Mr Jarman said he has told Mr Smith's stepchildren, Robert and Jean, that the farm has been seized. "They were sad to hear this news," he said, "but have not been back here since they scattered his ashes."