World / Africa Zimbabwe to start paying white farmers compensation President Emmerson Mnangagwa sees this as key to mending ties with the West, and has set aside $17.5m in Zimbabwe's budget to that end BL PREMIUM

Harare — Zimbabwe is to start paying compensation in 2019 to thousands of white farmers who lost land under former president Robert Mugabe's land reform nearly two decades ago, the government said, as it seeks to bring closure to a highly divisive issue. Two decades ago, Mugabe's government carried out at times violent evictions of 4,500 white farmers and redistributed the land to about 300,000 black families, arguing it was redressing imbalances from the colonial era. But land reform still divides public opinion as opponents see it as a partisan process that left the country struggling to feed itself. President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government sees the paying of compensation to white farmers as key to mending ties with the West, and set aside $17.5m in the 2019/2020 budget to that end. The initial payments will target those in financial distress, while full compensation will be paid later. “The registration process and list of farmers should be completed by the end of April 2019, af...