The Zimbabwe government on Wednesday agreed to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to white farmers whose land was expropriated by the government to resettle black families roughly two decades ago, reported Reuters.
Robert Mugabe’s government carried out at violent evictions of 4,500 white farmers two decades ago and redistributed the land to around 300,000 Black families, arguing it was redressing colonial land imbalances.
The land seizures during Mugabe’s era soured Zimbabwe’s ties with the West. Mugabe, who was deposed in a coup in 2017 and died last year, accused the West of imposing sanctions on his government as punishment.
According to the compensation agreement signed at President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State House offices in Harare, the government will issue long term bonds and jointly approach international donors with the farmers to get funding as it does not have the money. The white farmers would be compensated for infrastructure on the farms and not the land itself, as per the national constitution.
Details regarding how much money each farmer, or their descendants, would be given as per the time elapsed since the farms were seized, has not yet been made clear. The government has, however, said that it would give priority to the elders when making the settlements.
As per the agreement, farmers would be paid 50% of the compensation after a year and the balance within five years.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and acting Agriculture Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri signed the crucial agreement on behalf of the government. Farmers unions and a foreign consortium that undertook valuations also signed the agreement.
Andrew Pascoe, head of the Commercial Farmers Union representing white farmers said as Zimbabweans, it is important for them to resolve the long-outstanding issue.
President Mnangagwa, who took power in 2017 after Mugabe was forced to resign, said the land reform could not be reversed but paying of compensation was crucial to mending ties with the West.
