GOVERNMENT has refused to table before Parliament the original contract that it signed with white commercial farmers to compensate them for land expropriated during its controversial land reform exercise.
On July 29, 2020, Zimbabwe agreed to pay $3,5 billion in
compensation to white farmers who lost their land as government sought to
resettle landless blacks, in one of the most divisive policies of the Robert
Mugabe era.
On June 23 this year, legislators pressed Ncube to release
the original compensation document for their scrutiny.
Resolving the dispute with the farmers is seen as key to the
country pulling out of the economic stagnation triggered by the farm seizures.
The land grab also soured relations with multilateral
lenders, while the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions.
The agreement is also seen as a key part of President
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s re-engagement strategy.
Government is supposed to pay half of the compensation this
month after requesting to put it off for a year in June last year.
It has so far paid US$1 million after State-linked Kuvimba
Mining House Ltd transferred the money to the farmers in the form of a dividend
in June last year.
Harare North MP Norman Markham (Citizens Coalition for
Change) quizzed Ncube over the issue, and demanded that the agreement be
released to Parliament for scrutiny.
But Ncube refused, saying that releasing the document would
violate the terms of the agreement.
“On the Global Settlement Deed, it was my intention to give
him a three-page summary and here are my reasons; this is still a document
signed under restricted conditions of confidentiality. It only becomes public
when they have signed the cessation and when we are ready to pay, and then it
comes before this House for approval. I will then table it before this House
for approval properly. For now, it is still in abeyance as a negotiation
document. We have no wish to release it and if I do, then I am violating the
agreement with the farmers, and they will be very upset.”
But Markham insisted that the document should first be
scrutinised by Parliament before the payment deadline this month.
“The summarised document is the Global Settlement Deed. The
Global Settlement Deed has issues of financing on it, and there is also an
issue of extensions. It is important to see the extensions because that payment
is due next month,” Markham said.
“On the issue of global funds, it is exactly the same Mr
Speaker. US$3,5 billion is going to some 4 000 farmers who have been waiting 20
years for it and it is still confidential. We, as the House, need to know what
is happening and what we are tying ourselves to for the future. I do not accept
any confidential agreement on a loan that I have paid taxes to.”
Markham accused the Executive of entering into numerous
loan agreements which it has not brought before Parliament for scrutiny.
The Global Settlement Deed stipulated that the money should
be paid out to farmers within the first year, followed by four annual
instalments of $437.5 million. Newsday
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