DISPOSSESSED white farmers have tabled a $9 billion
compensation claim before President Emmerson Mnangagwa, for assets expropriated
during the chaotic land redistribution programme as they seek redress from the
new government, multiple sources said this week.
The size of the claim does not enjoy the unanimous support
of all affected farmers, with a small group reportedly pushing for a US$30
billion claim and international arbitration.
Mnangagwa, who took over power after former president,
Robert Mugabe, was ousted last November, has promised to compensate the white
farmers as he seeks to restore relations with international lenders and the
West to repair an economy damaged by years of mismanagement and looting.
Sources said this week the former white commercial farmers’
claim amounted to US$8,6 billion and it
was submitted to Mnangagwa shortly after his November inauguration.
The compensation figure includes land, which the farmers
valued using regional rates, a well as fixed assets.
The bill for fixed assets under the claim amounts to US$5,5
billion, said a source. This puts the value of land at US$3,1 billion.
“The US$5,5 billion is for assets that don’t exist
anymore,” said the source, who cannot be named for professional reasons. He
indicated the compensation bill did not include land or assets lost by sugar
cane farmers, whom he said were conglomerates rather than individuals. It also
did not include compensation for disruptions or forcible removal of the farmers
from their land, as well as at least 350 000 farm workers who equally lost
assets and had their houses burnt down during the oft-violent land
redistribution exercise.
The source indicated that at least 20 other farmers wanted
international arbitration.
“They are not happy with the local process. They want to go
to the Court of International Arbitration in Singapore. The quantum of their
claim would include a lot of assets — loss of income, interest at international
rates, compensation for dislocation and for violence in cases where farmers
were beaten or killed,” he said.
But he said the majority of the farmers — at least
4 100 farmers who were forced off their land — favoured a
local resolution to the problem.
Mugabe embarked on hasty land reforms in 2000 to counter a
surging opposition, which had successfully campaigned the previous year against
a new Constitution that was meant to expropriate white-owned farms without
compensation. The land reforms were executed swiftly and ruthlessly, courting
international criticism and plunging the country into its worst economic crisis
since independence in 1980.
Western countries reacted by imposing sanctions on Mugabe
and his government, prompting Zimbabwe’s long-time ruler to allege that the
sanctions were meant to protect their kith and kin and to undermine his regime,
which lost considerable popular support among the impoverished populace.
Peter Steyl, president of the white-dominated Commercial
Farmers’ Union, said he was not yet in a position to discuss the issue because
the union had not yet met with the Minister of Agriculture, Lands and
Resettlement, Perrance Shiri.
He indicated they were going to “get down on the table and
discuss the issue” of compensation once they were given the opportunity by
government.
Eddie Cross, a member of the opposition who has spoken
highly of Mnangagwa’s capacity to turn the economy around, said the issue of
compensation had been “intensively in motion for the past two years”.
He said Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa had indicated
recently that an assessment of farmlands for valuations had been completed in
all provinces except Masvingo and Midlands.
“Once all the provinces are complete, he has indicated that
government will meet with farmers and establish the quantum of claims arising
from expropriated land,” said Cross.
He added: “I don’t think the compensation claim will be
less than US$10 billion.”
The white farmers are said to already have a six member
committee in place ready to kick-start negotiations with government, which is
likely to be led by Chinamasa and Shiri in the talks.
An agreed compensation bill will be admitted to the
national account as a national liability, and will likely come before
Parliament through a Debt Assumption Bill, said Cross.
But he noted: “I don’t think compensation is possible until
after the elections.” Elections are scheduled for this year between July and
August.
While the compensation hot potato was one of Mnangagwa’s
earliest promises upon coming to power, he has emphasised that the land reform
programme, the ruling party’s centrepiece policy, was not reversible.
In an investment guideline the new president took to Davos
for the World Economic Forum this week, Mnangagwa noted that compensation for
losses incurred through the land reform programme was part of the reforms that
required “immediate action”.
“The Government of Zimbabwe has stated its intention to
compensate those farmers who lost their investments through the land
redistribution programme. To ensure equitable compensation, the Government of
Zimbabwe is considering a number of measures including establishment of a special
ad-hoc tribunal based on international good practices to determine, amongst
others, the value of compensation payable and modalities for payment,” said the
government document. Financial Gazette
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