in the agriculture the RBZ came to the forefront to try to bail the sector out by helping with fertilizer and machinery procurement. Backed by vice president Joyce Mujuru, Gono has several times called for an end to the farm invasions sanctioned by the ZANU-PF party, as these destroy the Zimbabwean economy. Gono's criticism of farm takeovers is in sharp contrast to statements made by other ministers, including Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa. In an interview with the state-controlled The Herald newspaper, he said, "I have openly condemned such retrogressive acts as destruction of horticultural greenhouses, decimation of tobacco barns, institution of fresh farm invasions". "There are too many subdivisions among us, too many contradictions, too much infighting among ourselves, incredible suspicion and mistrust of one another," Gono said. Gono admitted that his efforts to rescue and improve the economy of Zimbabwe were being thwarted and risked failure. Gono said there were several factors that were outside the central bank's control, which made it difficult to reign in inflation. "Some of those factors are within the governor's control and influence while others such as politics, sanctions, droughts, under-utilisation of farms, disruptions at those farms, rampant corruption, indiscipline, law and order are factors outside the governor's control," he said in an interview with The Herald newspaper. He has also blamed the failure of the economy on sanctions imposed on the country, a charge critics dispute. Critics allege that Gono has kept his job as the governor mainly through Mugabe's patronage saying Mugabe has not only shielded Gono from critics, but has commended him in his activities as governor despite the extreme deterioration of the Zimbabwean economy. He had been Mugabe's banker for a long period before becoming governor of the RBZ. Personal life Like many of Mugabe's inner circle, Gono allegedly owns several farm (one of which is in Norton). However, unlike others, he is said to have bought and paid for it in the late 1990s before the land redistribution program in which other farms were confiscated from localised white farmers. In November 2008, Gono published a book titled Zimbabwe's Casino Economy: Extra-ordinary Measures for Extra-ordinary Challenges describing the post-colonial economy of Zimbabwe particularly during the first five years (2003–2008) of his term as Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). On 24 October 2010, the South-African newspaper Sunday Times ran a story falsely claiming that he had an affair