Zimbabwe to return seized white-owned farms, pay $146 Million in compensation

CALGARY — More than two decades after Zimbabwe’s violent land seizures, which upended the country’s agricultural sector and economy, the government says it will return multiple farms owned by foreigners and pay compensation of $146 million.Reuters reports the southern African country began seizing white-owned farms under former leader Robert Mugabe’s government in 2000, in a move that was meant to resettle landless Black people and address colonial-era land ownership imbalances.The country’s land issues date back to the British colonial era, when much of Zimbabwe’s fertile farmland was allocated to white settlers.When the country gained independence in 1980, following the Rhodesian Bush War, around 4,000 white commercial farmers owned nearly half of the country’s farmland..STEINKE: Why won't mainstream media admit the horror of South Africa's farm murders?.The new government then pledged to acquire white-owned farms for redistribution, while Great Britain agreed to help fund the process. However, the redistribution effort moved slowly, and funding support from London was eventually withdrawn in the late 1990s.In 2000, Mugabe launched a land reform program that encouraged Black subsistence farmers and ruling-party supporters to occupy white-owned farms, arguing the policy would correct colonial-era injustices.Several white farmers, along with hundreds of farm workers, were killed, while thousands of commercial farmers were forced off their land. The seizures helped destroy commercial agriculture in the country, which, coupled with a currency collapse in 2008, left the nation struggling to feed its population.The seizures also prompted Western countries to sanction Zimbabwe and cut it off from much of the international financial system..STEINKE: One woman’s mission to bring hope to South Africa’s forgotten whites.Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka told lawmakers the latest transfer involved 67 properties.Zimbabwean treasury data shows the compensation payments would settle claims by property owners from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the former Yugoslavia.According to Bloomberg, Masuka also added that 840 affected farms owned by Black farmers were being returned, as well as roughly 400 owned by White farmers.The move comes as President Emmerson Mnangagwa seeks to mend ties with Western countries while the country looks to secure debt relief after having been shut out of the global financial system for more than two decades following defaults on debts owed to international lenders.Mnangagwa — a long-time ally of Mugabe who replaced the former president in a 2017 coup — had previously agreed to a $3.5 billion compensation package with around 4,000 white farmers in 2020, though his government has since struggled to make the payments.In 2020, the government also attempted to restructure the compensation deal using dollar-denominated bonds, an offer rejected by some farmers.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a ten-month staff-monitored programme for Zimbabwe as it looks to build a track record of economic reforms and rebuild confidence with international creditors.Reaction to the news was mixed online, with many commentators bringing up the severe mismanagement of the country for decades by the government. .“Correction: ‘return what is left of 67 European-owned farms.’” said one X user..“I know people who lost loved ones and families because of this,” RR2Captial co-founder Richard Seiler said.“It’s just crazy to see this.”

Zimbabwe to return seized white-owned farms, pay $146 Million in compensation

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