HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe agreed on Wednesday to pay $ 3.5 billion in compensation to white farmers whose land was expropriated by the government to resettle black families, taking another step closer to solving one of the most divisive policies of the era of Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaks during his meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (not pictured) in Minsk, Belarus, on January 17, 2019. Natalia Fedosenko / REUTERS / File Photo
But the southern African nation does not have the money and will issue long-term bonds and jointly approach international donors with farmers to raise funds, according to the compensation agreement.
Two decades ago, the Mugabe government carried out violent evictions of 4,500 white farmers and redistributed the land to around 300,000 black families, arguing that it was redressing colonial imbalances.
The agreement signed at the offices of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State House in Harare showed that white farmers would be compensated for the infrastructure on the farms and not for the land itself, according to the national constitution.
Details of how much money each farmer, or their descendants, could earn, given the time that has passed since the farms were seized, were still unclear, but the government has said it will prioritize the elderly in making settlements.
Farmers would receive 50% of the compensation after one year and the balance within five years.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and acting Agriculture Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri signed on behalf of the government, while farmers’ unions and a foreign consortium that carried out assessments also signed the agreement.
“As Zimbabweans, we have chosen to solve this longstanding problem,” said Andrew Pascoe, head of the Union of Commercial Farmers who represents white farmers.
Land seizures were one of Mugabe’s distinctive policies that deteriorated ties to the West. Mugabe, who was ousted in a coup in 2017 and died last year, accused the West of imposing sanctions on his government as punishment.
The program still divides public opinion in Zimbabwe, as opponents see it as a partisan process that left the country struggling to feed itself. But his supporters say he has empowered landless blacks.
Mnangagwa said that land reform could not be reversed, but that paying compensation was key to repairing ties to the West.
Reports by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Alison Williams
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