Zimbabwe Signs $3.5B Compensation Deal With White Farmers
Zimbabwe's government signed a $3.5 billion agreement
Wednesday to compensate white farmers displaced during a sometimes-violent land
redistribution program two decades ago.
The government hopes the deal will attract foreign
investment to improve the battered economy, but the country will have to issue
long-term bonds and get help from donors to raise the money for the
compensation.
Andrew Pascoe, the president of the Commercial Farmers Union
of Zimbabwe, said the agreement he signed with President Emmerson Mnangagwa at
the State House will bring relief to members who were driven off their farms in
the early 2000s.
"After almost 20 years of conflict over the land issue,
representatives of farmers who lost their land through the fast track reform
program and representatives of government have been able to come together to
see a resolution of this conflict," Pascoe said. "To me this is
nothing short of a miracle."
Mnangagwa said he hoped the agreement would make investors
and critics of his government believe that Zimbabwe respects the
constitution. However, he ruled out
compensating for the actual land taken from the whites and given to peasant
farmers.
"With regards to the land compensation agreement signed
today, my administration reaffirms that the government of Zimbabwe does not
have any obligation for compensation for acquired land," he said.
"The constitution bids us to compensate [for] all the improvements on
land."
By improvements, the president means structures such as dams
and buildings that the white commercial farmers made on the land.
The 77-year-old leader said he hopes that with the land
issue solved, all resettled farmers will focus on increasing production so that
Zimbabwe can regain its position as the breadbasket of southern Africa and revive
the moribund economy.
However, John Robertson, an independent economist, said the
cash-strapped government still has a lot to do before the land compensation
issue can go away.
"The money is not yet available," he said.
"Even though they signed an agreement, it doesn't mean the money is now
going to be distributed. Now that they have signed an agreement, they are going
to use that agreement – no doubt – they are going to use that signature as a
way to raise the money."
Robertson suggested one way to raise the money would be to
put the land back on the market, so it can be bought and sold. Currently, the
government claims ownership of all the land.
Under the late Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's government ruled
out giving back land to white commercial farmers, saying they grabbed it from
black people during the colonial era.
When the land was redistributed, farm production plunged,
sending Zimbabwe's economy into a tailspin from which is has yet to recover.
Comments
Post a Comment