Zimbabwe on Wednesday agreed to pay $3.5 billion (about Sh377 billion) in compensation to white farmers whose land was seized by Robert Mugabe's regime as part of his agrarian reforms back in the early 2,000s. "Today we signed a historic compensation agreement with the Commercial Farmers Union, bringing closure and bringing a new beginning to land discourse in Zimbabwe," President Mnangagwa said. The land seizures that began in 2,000 displaced 4,500 white Zimbabweans from their commercial farms that were parcelled out to landless blacks. The Sadc Tribunal ruled that Zimbabwe violated the regional body’s treaty by denying the dispossessed farmers access to the courts. Mr Mugabe, who had ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, championed the land reform programme saying it was meant to correct colonial injustices.

Source: Daily Nation July 30, 2020 08:57 UTC