Zimbabwe to start paying white farmers compensation

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/zimbabwe...s-compensation-april-085513589--business.html

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe is to start paying compensation this year to thousands of white farmers who lost land under former president Robert Mugabe's land reform nearly two decades ago, the government said, as it seeks to bring closure to a highly divisive issue.

Two decades ago Mugabe's government carried out at times violent evictions of 4,500 white farmers and redistributed the land to around 300,000 black families, arguing it was redressing imbalances from the colonial era.

But land reform still divides public opinion as opponents see it as a partisan process that left the country struggling to feed itself.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government sees the paying of compensation to white farmers as key to mend ties with the West, and set aside $17.5 million in this year's budget to that end. The initial payments will target those in financial distress, while full compensation will be paid later.

"The registration process and list of farmers should be completed by the end of April 2019, after which the interim advance payments will be paid directly to former farm owners," Zimbabwe's ministries of finance and agriculture said in a joint statement on Monday.

They said the process to identify and register farmers for compensation was being undertaken the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) and a committee representing the farmers.

A committee comprising government officials and former farm owners is currently valuing improvements made on the farms. That process should end next month and will determine the full amount due to the farmers.

The government, which maintains it will only pay compensation for infrastructure and improvements on farms and not for the land, is talking to international financial institutions on options to raise the full amount to pay farmers.

Colonialists seized some of the best agricultural land and much of it remained in the hands of white farmers after independence in 1980, while many blacks were landless.
 
Are they returning land to these farmers or just buying them off? The reputation of black African governments is you build it and then we'll either take it or extort money from you so you can keep it. I doubt any foreign investment will come from this token move. From this chair, in another 100 years, Zim and the rest of the so called "shitholes" won't be any different than they are today, payoffs, corruption and poverty.
 
I feel like April 1st was 7 days ago... posting a little behind schedule?
 
Hogpatrol............you are such a cynic. They should have plenty of money to repay in the near future. I heard they have fired up the old Xerox machine, and have a couple of old 100 trillion dollar notes lying around. I suspect the President needs money from The West, and has decided this is good PR. Most of the farmers from the 1981 Rhodesian Genocide are dead now 38 years later. I remember well when The Left cheered the rise of Mugabe....and indigenous rising to power. What could possibly go wrong??......FWB
 
Hogpatrol............you are such a cynic. They should have plenty of money to repay in the near future. I heard they have fired up the old Xerox machine, and have a couple of old 100 trillion dollar notes lying around. I suspect the President needs money from The West, and has decided this is good PR. Most of the farmers from the 1981 Rhodesian Genocide are dead now 38 years later. I remember well when The Left cheered the rise of Mugabe....and indigenous rising to power. What could possibly go wrong??......FWB

You may be on to something there Bill. If they could just peddle a few hundred thousand of these on ebay, they just may come up with the money.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zimbabwe-1...UYAAOSwvzVa3jLB:sc:USPSFirstClass!19702!US!-1
 

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Not a fan of the last sentence there since it's not true, but other than that maybe this is the start of recovery?

I hope it is but have doubts! As others mentioned where will they get the money!? It still doesn’t address the fact that the country can’t really feed itself after the farm seizures!
 
One challenge with this process would be that the principal beneficiaries of the funds will be those who took the land. These people - most if not all of whom were (are?) well connected politically - will be able to keep the land, it seems, while the state (everyone) will pay the former owners.

Another issue is that this in effect cements or gives a patina of legality to actions which were illegal.

Lastly, I know of at least one farmer who would just rather have his land back. But the land is currently "owned" by a woman who is related to a high government official. I am sure there are other farmers who would also like their land back.

And, of course, there are some who would not go back to Zimbabwe under any circumstances, and will be happy to take any amount of cash in compensation.

The only winners in this entire sad affair are those who illegally took and now hold land. Who says crime doesn't pay?
 

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