Zimbabwe makes first compensation payments to white farmers over land grabs

Zimbabwe’s government has announced an initial pay-out of US$3m (£2.3m) to white farmers whose farms were seized under a controversial government programme more than two decades ago.

It is the first payment to be made under the 2020 compensation agreement signed between the state and the local white farmers in which Zimbabwe committed to pay $3.5bn (£2.6bn) for seized farmland.

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

The seizures were meant to redress colonial-era land grabs but contributed to the country’s economic decline and ruined relations with the West.

The payment announced on Wednesday will cover the first 378 farms, out of a total of 740, for which compensation had been approved.

It represents 1% of the total $311m allocated for the first batch of payments.

The remainder will be paid through US-dollar denominated Treasury bonds, said Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube.

“One of our commitments as we try to reform the Zimbabwe economy, to clear our arrears, is really to compensate the former farm owners who lost their farms during the land reform programme,” he said.

“We have now begun to honour that agreement.”

Harry Orphanides, one of the farmers’ representatives, told the BBC that more farmers have now indicated an interest in signing up for the compensation.

Credit: bbc.com

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