President Robert Mugabe’s government is to compensate hundreds of white farmers whose land was seized under Zimbabwe’s land-reform programme, a state-run newspaper said on Monday.
”Government has completed fixing compensation for 822 farms compulsorily acquired under the land reform programme,” The Herald said.
The government has said it will pay money for buildings, dams and ”any improvements” on the farms, but not for the land itself.
The daily quoted Land Reform and Resettlement Minister John Nkomo as inviting ”former owners or representatives to contact the ministry as a matter of urgency in connection with their compensation”.
Thousands of white commercial farmers have had their land confiscated since early 2000 when Mugabe’s government launched land reforms, ostensibly to correct land-ownership imbalances created under British colonial rule, which ended in 1980.
Some landowners have refused to accept the money that was being offered by the government as compensation, saying it was paltry.
The Herald said compensation is now being offered ”after the government engaged evaluators to assess the value of developments on the acquired farms”.
Of the 4 500 commercial farms that were the backbone of Zimbabwe’s strong agricultural sector in 2000, only 600 remain in the hands of whites, while about 200 000 black farmers have been given land, according to government figures.
The new black farmers often lack skills and rely on government assistance.
Before the land seizures, about 70% of the most fertile land in Zimbabwe was owned by white farmers, who were mainly descendants of British settlers.
Once the breadbasket of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe’s agriculture production has plummeted, from providing 50% of all export earnings in 2000 to 11% at the end of 2003, according to an independent study. — Sapa-AFP