Foreign landowners in Zimbabwe will be allowed to appeal against the seizure of their farms in court, a government minister said on Wednesday in what appeared to be a bid to calm outside investors.
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa told diplomats in Harare that recent amendments to the Constitution that block white farmers from such appeals did not apply to farms protected by government-to-government agreements, state TV reported.
Mutasa said the foreign-owned farms could still be acquired by the government but the landowners would be paid compensation ”in the currency of the owner’s choice”.
Launched six years ago, President Robert Mugabe’s controversial land reform programme has seen the seizure of more than 4 000 white-owned farms, some of them reportedly protected by bilateral agreements.
”Because of the national demand for land, in those unavoidable cases where land [protected by bilateral agreements] has to be acquired, compensation has to be paid in full and in the currency of the owner’s choice for both land and improvements [to the land],” Mutasa told the diplomats.
The report said that a special committee had been set up to look into the seizure of farms covered by country-to-country agreements.
Zimbabwe is reeling under severe foreign currency shortages, and Mutasa did not say how hard cash would be made available for compensation. Farming groups here say that only a few hundred white Zimbabwean farmers have accepted the compensation offered by Mugabe’s government in the local currency, which is rapidly losing value.
Although the authorities promised to pay back all white farmers for buildings and infrastructure on their seized farms, many complain the sums offered are only a fraction of the real value of their properties. ‒ Sapa-DPA