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Twenty years later, the government of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has effectively reversed the more divisive policy of his predecessor Robert Mugabe, land reform, by offering seized land to foreign white farmers.
About 4,500 white commercial farmers lost their farms under Mugabe’s “fast track” land reform, which was characterized by violence and murder. Subsequently, Zimbabwe’s food production collapsed with successive droughts and corruption that exacerbated the situation. The land became political currency for the Zanu-PF ruler.
Farms intended to be protected by Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreements (BIPPAs) and owned by citizens of the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Australia and South Africa are not saved from Mugabe.
But in a sudden change in policy to honor BIPPAs, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said on Monday that returning the land to foreign white farmers through what Zimbabwe calls a Global Compensation Deed was a “milestone. important in restoring trust and cooperation among the former. ” farm owners and the government. “
