Farm compensation programme delayed

Zimbabwe's white former commercial farmers will have to wait a while longer before they can get meaningful payment as compensation for their farm assets which were controversially distributed under its land reform programme. Under a Global Compensation Deed agreement signed a year ago, Zimbabwe had promised to pay the former farm owners US$3.5bn. A report on the Fin24 site notes that the first instalment, amounting to US$1.75bn, was supposed to be paid at the end of this month, while the balance would be paid in instalments for the next four years. However, citing processes that took longer than originally anticipated, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic ‘which slowed down the resource mobilisation process’, the government has extended the period for the first payment to July 2022. Finance & Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube said the appointment of financial advisers for the fund mobilisation exercise had taken longer than expected. ‘Nevertheless, we are pleased to advise that the process has now been completed and the contract with the financial advisers, Newstate Partners, was signed on 21 April,’ he said.