(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwean black farmers who benefitted from land seizures more than two decades ago will have their 99-year leases converted to tenure, allowing them to sell the property, a cabinet minister said.
“All land held by beneficiaries of the land reform program under 99-year leases, offer letters and permits will now be held under a bankable, registrable and transferable more secure document of tenure, to be issued by the government,” Information Minister Jenfan Muswere, told reporters.
“As such beneficiaries of the land reform program will now have enhanced security of tenure to the land they legitimately hold,” he said at a post-cabinet briefing held in the capital, Harare on Tuesday. Previously they were unable to sell the land or use it as collateral.
The land seizures from White Zimbabwean commercial farmers that began in 2000 under then President Robert Mugabe were ratified by the government, which said they were needed to redress colonial imbalances.
A once vibrant agricultural industry that exported tobacco and roses and grew most of the food the nation needed collapsed. Periodic food shortages ensued, inflation became the world’s highest and the manufacturing industry was decimated. What was one of Africa’s richest countries became one of its poorest.
Almost 4,500 white-owned properties and others protected under government-to-government agreements were affected by the program.
The southern African country has since agreed to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to the white commercial farmers.
The latest “measures will have a huge impact on our economic growth, and will unlock the full value of the land while enhancing the performance of our economy,” Muswere said. “This will facilitate accelerated investments in agriculture and associated value chains, which include irrigation, dam construction, power supply and rural road construction.”
--With assistance from Desmond Kumbuka.
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