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Zimbabwean Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube.
- Zimbabwe has announced that farmers could reclaim land.
- Foreign farmers whose land was confiscated can reapply to get it back.
- But in some cases, returning the land can be difficult.
Foreign white farmers settled in Zimbabwe whose lands were confiscated by Robert Mugabe can apply for their return and will be offered land elsewhere if restitution is not practical, the government said on Monday.
Last month, Zimbabwe agreed to pay $ 3.5 billion in compensation to local white farmers whose lands were forcibly taken by the government to resettle black families, taking a further step toward resolving one of the most divisive policies in the country. It was from Robert Mugabe.
READ | It Can Work Explanation of Zimbabwe’s $ 3.5 Billion Land Reform Compensation Plan
Under Zimbabwean laws passed during a short period of opposition rule but ignored by Mugabe, foreign white farmers protected by treaties between their governments and Zimbabwe must be compensated for both land and other assets.
In this regard, the Minister of Finance, Mthuli Ncube, and the Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Anxious Masuka, said in a joint statement that these farmers should request the return of their land.
That means that, in some cases, the government would “revoke the offer letters of the resettled (black) farmers who currently occupy those lands and offer them alternative lands elsewhere,” the ministers said.
Practically and politically difficult
But getting black beneficiaries off the land could be practically and politically difficult.
“When the current situation on the ground makes it impractical to restore land in this category to its former owners, the government will offer former owners alternative lands elsewhere as restitution where available,” the statement read.
The ministers said that other white farmers whose land had been set aside for government acquisition but who was still on the property can apply to lease the land for 99 years, just like their black counterparts.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said that land reform cannot be reversed, but paying compensation is key to repairing ties with the West.
The program still divides public opinion in Zimbabwe, where the number of white farmers has dropped to just over 200 from 4,500 when land reforms began 20 years ago, according to the predominantly white commercial farmers union.
Opponents see the reforms as a partisan process that left the country struggling to feed itself, but its supporters say it has empowered landless blacks.
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