The Zimbabwean government is likely to give back some land to white farmers, after a land audit is set to be completed in March. An audit seeks to flush out multiple farm owners, correcting some of the wrongs from the country’s chaotic fast-track land reform exercise.
The audit is currently being carried out across the country. Starting in 2000, Zimbabwe saw a messy land reform exercise, whereby the government implemented a one-person-one-farm policy.
Speaking in parliament last week, Douglas Karoro, the deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Rural Resettlement, Water and Climate, said white farmers would be considered during the land restructuring programme. “Government wants to see a situation whereby there is fairness in land ownership. There is a land audit that is currently under way and we expect the exercise to be finalised by the end of March.”
“The redistribution is not going to look at the colour of the farmer, whether black or white. It is not going to look at the political inclination of an individual, neither is it going to look at the religious affiliation of the farmer. A farmer is going to be looked at as a farmer, who has capacity and competence. The essence is that we want to produce enough food for everybody as a country and surplus for export.”
“In short, government is looking at ways that are non-discriminatory in terms of allocating land to those people who want land,” he said.
Zimbabwe was once the bread basket of Southern Africa but after the land seizures, food production plummeted and the country now imports basic foodstuffs because of dire shortages of wheat, soya beans and other crops.
According to businesslive.co.za¸ the land audit has various aims, including seeking to identify underutilised land and redistribute it to productive farmers as agriculture accounts for 15% of Zimbabwe’s GDP and provides about 70% of its formal employment. Zimbabwe’s land reform resulted in the displacement of 6,000 white farmers, with about 300,000 black families benefiting but the programme has been abused by top Zanu-PF officials.