Land reform process ‘done and dusted’

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said his government was ready to seize any idle land owned by some of the ruling Zanu-PF party ‘heavyweights’. Briefing traditional leaders in northern Zimbabwe, he said the country's often violent land reform programme was ‘done and dusted’. New Zimbabwe reports that Mnangagwa said his government had embarked on a land commission audit that unearthed that some of his party’s senior officials owned more than one farm, which was in violation of government’s 'one-man-one farm policy'. He added that his government was also going ahead with its plans of downsizing farms that were considered too big and repossessing some of the farms for redistribution to other Zimbabweans who were sidelined during the land reform programme.

The Zimbabwean Government said that it does not have money to pay white farmers who were evicted during the country's chaotic land reform programme. New Zimbabwe reports that the compensation programme was seen as key to unlocking fresh financial support and restoring relations with the international community. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has pledged to pay the farmers but the treasury recently indicated that it presently did not have the funds to commit to the exercise. ‘While work on the extent of government’s obligation is still to be finalised, the resources required to compensate and put closure to this important issues (compensation of displaced commercial farmers) is obviously beyond the capacity of budget to finance,’ the treasury stated in its investment and expenditure plan for 2019 booklet. During the budget speech last month, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said the government was still working on determining the amount it had to pay to the evicted farmers.