Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa wants American President Donald Trump to build a golf course in his country, and he's willing to hand over the land to the 45th President to do it.
Mnangagwa, speaking at a New York investor forum ahead of his debut speech in front of the United Nations General Assembly, said he made the offer to Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, suggesting land in the town of Victoria Falls would be suitable for a golf course.
President Trump's golf company owns or manages 17 golf courses around the world, including in Ireland, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates.
"I had offered President Trump ground to build a state-of-the-art golf course so that as he plays he can be able to see the big five," Mnangagwa said, according to News Day in Zimbabwe, referring to the biggest game animals: lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo and leopard.
Trump's sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., traveled to Zimbabwe in 2010 on a hunting expedition, drawing criticism on social media in 2016 for posing in pictures with killed elephants and leopards.
Mnangagwa is trying to curry favor from the American government, which placed sanctions on Zimbabwe and former president Robert Mugabe, who long held Western nations in contempt for their criticism of how Mugabe handled human rights abuses in his country. Mnangagwa is also personally under sanction; he became president in November when Mugabe resigned under military pressure in November 2017, winning a narrow, disputed election in July 2018. The current president is seeking direct foreign investment to grow a long-collapsed economy, though the US renewed the sanctions, which date back to 2000, after the July election.
