https://www.yahoo.com/news/zim...13589--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.

(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

This is good news for those farmers still alive ... but I cautiously note the footnotes state "for improvements only" and also that the govt has to borrow the money.

Some math: 4000 farmers, $1/2 million per farm (and this is an insult), is $2 billion. $17.5 million will not pay the legal fees.

I also take exception to the notion that the land was "seized". There was no concept of ownership in tribal Africa, and occupation depended on who killed who. A lot of Southern Zim was "seized" from the San people by the Ndebele people, who ran away from the Zulus after the Zulus "seized" the areas they traditionally occupied in South Africa. When the land was "seized", it was not farm land, it was bush. The "colonial" govt set aside large areas of Zim as "tribal trust lands" so the blacks were not "landless". Not all whites were farmers, in fact most of the white zimbos were landless as well.

Regarding the funding, I thought that the British Govt committed, way back, to fund compensation. But they withheld the money because they could not assure themselves that it would be used for the intended purpose. Maybe I am wrong on this score. I don't see any bank putting up the money frankly, unless some credible govts underwrite the loans.

Where are the Chinese in this scheme? Are they not willing to help their "friends" in the Zim govt?

Of course there ain’t going to be enough land!! I bet you the average man will have 6 children. Multiply that by many yrs and guess what?? Even the National Parks won’t be safe!

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
This is good news for those farmers still alive ... but I cautiously note the footnotes state "for improvements only" and also that the govt has to borrow the money.

Some math: 4000 farmers, $1/2 million per farm (and this is an insult), is $2 billion. $17.5 million will not pay the legal fees.

I also take exception to the notion that the land was "seized". There was no concept of ownership in tribal Africa, and occupation depended on who killed who. A lot of Southern Zim was "seized" from the San people by the Ndebele people, who ran away from the Zulus after the Zulus "seized" the areas they traditionally occupied in South Africa. When the land was "seized", it was not farm land, it was bush. The "colonial" govt set aside large areas of Zim as "tribal trust lands" so the blacks were not "landless". Not all whites were farmers, in fact most of the white zimbos were landless as well.

Regarding the funding, I thought that the British Govt committed, way back, to fund compensation. But they withheld the money because they could not assure themselves that it would be used for the intended purpose. Maybe I am wrong on this score. I don't see any bank putting up the money frankly, unless some credible govts underwrite the loans.

Where are the Chinese in this scheme? Are they not willing to help their "friends" in the Zim govt?

Thats tiddlywinks money..

Payment in Zim dollars?

They are saying this to get more aid from the stupid politicians in the West!

Zimbabwe needs drastic change, and it did not get it.

What Saeed said. This whole ruse is a sorry, pathetic joke.

If you google farm land Return on Investment in the United States, it currently states that it is around 7 percent. Truth is that you are lucky to get 2 percent.


The cost of land management, taxes and insurance adds up. The Boy Scouts of America has almost gone bankrupt because they can not afford the up keep all of their properties.


My point is that it takes a constant supply of money and sweat equity to keep up farm or timber land if you are trying to make a return.


The people who stole the land in Zimbabwe are getting back exactly what they deserve.

Four things to remember about the Zim government:
1) They are incompetent;
2) They are corrupt;
3) They are Communists;
4) They are racist (Anti-white)

If anyone thinks they will truly do the right thing, they're delusional.

quote:

The people who stole the land in Zimbabwe are getting back exactly what they deserve.

Could you clarify? The only stealing that went on was by Mugabe and his cronies, who took the best farms (plural in some cases) for themselves. So far they have not gotten what they deserve ... they are all extremely wealthy and they did not get that way on the "liberation movement" payroll nor the government payroll.

The return on investment on land where you live has nothing to do with the compensation that is owed to the former landowners of Zimbabwe. They were deprived of their life's work, their livelihood, and their way of life. They are owed the market value of their farms prior to the takeovers, plus compound interest at Zim USD rates until the day they are paid. I don't know what that is but you could never borrow USD in Zim for 20 years at 2%. At 8%, your money doubles in 9 years. It's been what, 20 years? Current value of the asset would be about 5x what the value was back then. So a very modest farm worth $1/2 million back in the 90s should bring a $2.5 million check today.

Ask the Batonga people about racism.

You misunderstood me sir. Robert Mugabe and his followers are criminals and should be treated as such. What I am saying is those that stole the land have not done anything too it, much less make improvements. I am referring to ROI average for yearly agriculture revenue.

They need white farmers to come back and take over the land so it will be worth its value.

Zimbabwe leader says compensation only for elderly white farmers

https://www.yahoo.com/news/zim...rmers-131751398.html

Harare (AFP) - The Zimbabwe government will give priority to elderly white farmers when it starts compensating those who lost their properties during the controversial land reforms, the president said in an interview published Sunday.

The finance and agriculture ministries last week said they had budgeted 53 million Zimbabwean dollars ($18 million) in payments to white commercial farmers whose properties were seized nearly 20 years ago under Robert Mugabe.

The government pledged to target those in "financial distress".

In an interview with the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper, Emmerson Mnangagwa said the estimated value of the improvements on the farms would be three billion Zimbabwe dollars ($1-billion) and that government was not under pressure to pay all farmers.

"We are looking at old white farmers as we make payment," Mnangagwa told the paper ahead of Zimbabwe's 39th independence anniversary on Thursday.

"We don't pay compensation to those who are fit. Our constitution bids us to pay for improvements on land. We do not pay for land because no one brought land to Zimbabwe.

"When we feel we do not have resources, no one compels us to do anything," he said, adding that the government was also in talks with the British government to help "to contribute to this compensation".

More than 4,000 of the country's 4,500 white farmers were stripped of their land under former president Mugabe's highly controversial land seizures.

Mugabe justified the land grabs as a way to correct colonial-era land ownership disparities that had favoured whites and to stimulate economic growth for black Zimbabweans.

Critics blame the evictions for a collapse in agricultural production that forced Africa's one-time bread basket to become dependent on imported food to feed its population.

The organisation representing the farmers welcomed the government's move as "a huge step in acknowledging that compensating is owed by them".

A former close ally of Mugabe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has vowed to revive the country's economy by lifting agricultural production and attracting foreign investment.

Mnangagwa also told the Sunday Mail that he was on good terms with Mugabe whom he succeeded after he was toppled following a brief military takeover in 2017.

He said the former ruler was unwell and was flown Singapore two weeks ago for a month-long treatment.

"No one brought land to Zimbabwe" .. OK so then none of these politicians are entitled to sell any land for money. They didn't bring it to Zimbabwe either. And no bank is going to lend money to a farmer if land is not a negotiable asset.

Same thing, nobody bought diamonds to Zimbabwe. So there is no value on diamonds.

Gotta love the African mentality. Stinking colonials, give us money so that we can pay off those old white guys at 10c on the dollar, so that clears the way for you to then give us and/or lend us more money for our various political schemes.

The sad thing is some western govts will do it.

Can't pay back dead men.

quote:

" he said, adding that the government was also in talks with the British government to help "to contribute to this compensation".

What a shock!