JAG says compensation of white farmers a scam

By Tererai Karimakwenda
12 June 2006

There are several reports that claim that the government has started compensating former commercial white farmers in Zimbabwe for their properties which were illegally taken over by the government. The minister for Lands and Land Resettlement Didymus Mutasa is reported to have said last week the farmers are responding well to the government's invitation to get compensated for their property’s infrastructure. He is quoted as saying: "..we are compensating the infrastructure only, Blair should compensate them for the land.” But Justice For Agriculture (JAG), which represents the majority of evicted farmers in the country, said the offers only amount to about 5% of the true value of the improvements on the land and the vast majority of farmers are turning this down.

Mutasa and the Zimbabwe government have insisted it should be the British government that compensates farmers for land according to the Lancaster House agreement signed at independence. Mutasa is also reported to have accused Blair of not sticking to the British government's part of the agreement. John Worsley Worswick of JAG admitted an agreement was made at Lancaster House but explained where it all went wrong. He said: “Certainly the farmers who were paid over the 15 year period got paid for land and improvements on that land. But the issues got muddied with regards to statements made by Mugabe that the land was stolen. Now this is very much an issue between the Zimbabwe government and the British government in that it predates 1980. In fact it goes all the way back to 1919 and at some stage there is going to have to be an international ruling with regard to, was the land stolen or not?”

Worswick also stressed that many farmers bought their properties after 1980 with the blessing of the same government now taking them back. He said: “Certainly as farmers in this country we accepted the hand of reconciliation after 1980. 82% of the farmers who stayed in the country had purchased their land subsequent to 1980 with the majority of them having received certificates of “no present interest” from the government and have basically developed their farms with the blessing of the government. So to turn around in the year 2000 and to say the land was stolen and you’re taking it back raises major issues that need probably at this stage an international ruling.”

As for reports that many farmers were accepting the recent government offers for compensation. Worswick said: “To the best of our knowledge only 200 farmers over the last 5 years have received any compensation. Now that’s 200 farmers out a possible 4,300 farmers who have been evicted. It’s hardly a major response.”