White farmers in Zimbabwe to receive first compensation because of the invasion of the land

The Zimbabwe government announced an initial payment of $ 3 million (£ 2.3 million) to white farmers whose farms were seized under a controversial government program more than two decades ago.

This is the first payment made under the 2020 compensation agreement signed between the state and the local white farmers in which Zimbabwe is committed to paying $ 3.5 billion ($ 2.6 billion) for seized agricultural land.

Thousands of white farmers were forced from their land, often forcibly, between 2000 and 2001.

The seizures were intended to eliminate the grab of colonial era, but contributed to the country’s economic decline and ruined relations with the West.

The payment, announced on Wednesday, will cover the first 378 farmers, out of a total of 740 former farm owners whose compensation has been approved.

It represents 1% of the total number of 311 million dollars allocated for the first batch of payments.

The remainder will be paid through denominated bonds of the US Department of Finance, said Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube.

“One of our commitments, when we are trying to reform the Zimbabwe economy, to clear our overdue, it is really to compensate for the former farms owners who lost their farms during the Earth Reformation Program,” he said.

“We have now begun to honor this agreement.”

Harry Orfanidi, one of the farmers, told the BBC that more farmers had already shown interest in registering for compensation.

However, the bigger part of the former farmers have not signed in the deal and still hold their title cases.

The government only agreed to compensate former farm owners for “improvements” made on the ground and refused to pay to the land itself, claiming that it was unfairly seized by the colonialists.

It was a priority for farms owned by foreign owners in separate negotiations.

In January, Zimbabwe began paying compensation for foreign investors whose holdings were protected under bilateral investment agreements.

In 1980, Zimbabwe gained independence, ending the decades of rule of white minority. At that time, the bigger part of the most fruiting land in the country was owned by about 4,000 white farmers.

The land reform was focused on the redistribution of the white lands of black farmers, following policies from the colonial era, when thousands of black farmers were forced from their land and the most fertile regions of the country were reserved for the white people.

In 2000, President Robert Mugabe then supported Earth’s invasion of a combination of state forces and vigilant groups, provoking international condemnation.

President Emerson Mnangawa, who replaced Mugabe during a 2017 coup, tried to engage Western governments to restore ties.

Early, Mnangagwa said the land reform could not be reversed, but is committed to paying the compensation as a key way of repairing connections with the West.

The South African country has been excluded from the global financial system for more than two decades, leaving the fight economy with huge external debt.

Analysts claim that paying land is an important step towards repairing relations with Western countries and avoiding international decisions against Zimbabwe.