
<p>HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe agreed on Wednesday to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to white farmers whose land was expropriated by the government to resettle black families, moving a step closer to resolving one the most divisive policies of the Robert Mugabe era.</p>



<p>But the southern African nation does not have the money and will issue long term bonds and jointly approach international donors with the farmers to raise funding, according to the compensation agreement.</p>



<p>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 colonial land imbalances.</p>



<p>The agreement signed at President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State House offices in Harare showed white farmers would be compensated for infrastructure on the farms and not the land itself, as per the national constitution.</p>



<p>Details of how much money each farmer, or their descendants, given the time elapsed since the farms were seized, was likely to get were not yet clear, but the government has said it would prioritise the elderly when making the settlements.</p>



<p>Farmers would receive 50% of the compensation after a year and the balance within five years.</p>



<p>Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and acting Agriculture Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri signed on behalf of the government, while farmers unions and a foreign consortium that undertook valuations also penned the agreement.</p>



<p>“As Zimbabweans, we have chosen to resolve this long-outstanding issue,” said Andrew Pascoe, head of the Commercial Farmers Union representing white farmers.</p>



<p>The land seizures were one of Mugabe’s signature policies that soured ties with the West. Mugabe, who was ousted in a coup in 2017 and died last year, accused the West of imposing sanctions on his government as punishment.</p>



<p>The programme still divides public opinion in Zimbabwe as opponents see it as a partisan process that left the country struggling to feed itself. But its supporters say it has empowered landless Black people.</p>



<p>Mnangagwa said the land reform could not be reversed but paying of compensation was key to mending ties with the West.</p>


Emmerson_Mnangagwa_(2019-01-15)

Zimbabwe agrees to pay $3.5 billion compensation to white farmers

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<p>Zimbabweans are coming forward with blankets and handfuls of money to help the families of their dead and dying countrymen in the wake of the powerful Cyclone Idai that ripped through the country in the last week killing 1000 people in Mozambique and at least 200 in Zimbabwe. The government of Zimbabwe also gave $50 million and sent hundreds of soldiers to help those suffering in the east of the country. This is the world from Zimbabwe’s finance minister Mthuli Ncube in an exclusive interview with CNBC Africa.</p>


Zimbabweans pull out their last penny for dead and injured of Cyclone Idai

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<p>The controversial black ownership law in Zimbabawe is dead.  The requirement that black Zimbabweans own majority stakes in foreign owned business – that has hurt investment in the country for more than a decade -is going out of the window. So says the finance minister Mthuli Ncube in an exclusive interview with CNBC African.</p>


Zimbabwe’s indigenisation policy is dead – FinMin Mthuli Ncube

<p>Zimbabwe&#8217;s mining industry needs to be &#8220;reorganised&#8221; so that it contributes more towards the African country&#8217;s economy, President Robert Mugabe said on Tuesday.<span id="midArticle_byline"></span></p>
<p>Although Mugabe did not give details on what form the transformation would take, his government has, in recent years, pressured mining firms to transfer majority stakes to black ownership under a 2008 law and to cede some claims.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is a lot of work which is going on in that sector, not least the reorganisation whose completion we impatiently await,&#8221; Mugabe, Zimbabwe&#8217;s sole ruler since independence in 1980, told thousands at a rally to mark the southern African country&#8217;s 37th independence anniversary in a Harare stadium.</p>
<p>Zimbabwe, where mining generates more than 50 percent of export earnings, holds significant mineral deposits and the world&#8217;s top two platinum producers, Impala Platinum and Anglo American Platinum, have operations there.</p>
<p>Mining has also overtaken agriculture as the leading provider of employment, after the Mugabe government started seizing white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks in 2000.</p>
<p>The government has also leaned on producers to invest in local refinery facilities. Platinum miners currently ship their matte to South Africa for processing.</p>
<p>While Mugabe&#8217;s government has signalled plans to relax the ownership rules for existing mines, it has shifted its focus to seizing land owned by foreign mines, which it claims to be idle.</p>
<p>&#8220;Much is expected from this important sector. It must play its part towards this overall development vision we have,&#8221; Mugabe said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Nelson Banya; editing by Alexander Smith)</p>


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Zimbabwe agrees to pay $3.5 billion compensation to white farmers

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Zimbabwe’s indigenisation policy is dead – FinMin Mthuli Ncube

Zimbabwe’s Mugabe impatient over pace of mining reform

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Zimbabawe

Zimbabwe agrees to pay $3.5 billion compensation to white farmers

Zimbabweans pull out their last penny for dead and injured of Cyclone Idai

Zimbabwe’s indigenisation policy is dead – FinMin Mthuli Ncube

Zimbabwe’s Mugabe impatient over pace of mining reform

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