Ageing Zimbabwe Farmers Turn To Washington As Long-Promised Compensation Stalls

Twenty five years after the chaotic land seizures that reshaped Zimbabwe’s agricultural landscape, the farmers who once worked those lands are running out of time. Many are now in their seventies and eighties, and as government compensation continues to move at a glacial pace, desperation has pushed them to look abroad for help. Their latest appeal is aimed squarely at the United States.

A Last Push For Justice

Late last year, several farmers’ organisations hired US lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs to raise their case in Washington. Their hope is simple: get the Trump administration to pressure Harare into finally settling the long promised 3.5 billion dollar compensation deal agreed to in 2020.

That original agreement was meant to compensate around 3,500 former commercial farmers for infrastructure and improvements on the properties taken during Zimbabwe’s controversial land reform drive in the early 2000s. The value of the land itself was excluded, as the government maintains it was originally seized by colonial settlers.

But progress since that 2020 deal has been painfully slow.

A Government Tight On Cash

Zimbabwe’s financial position is dire. With a 21 billion dollar debt burden, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration reshaped the deal in 2023, offering one percent in cash and the balance through USD-denominated treasury bonds at two percent interest.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube insists the government is committed. Nearly 1,000 farmers have accepted the new offer and some have already received payments and bonds. But the process has been opaque, unpredictable and far too slow for many of the ageing farmers still waiting.

Ncube is not opposed to outside pressure. He told AFP that Zimbabwe is paying what it can and would like to pay faster, and that foreign lobbying was not a problem if it helps speed the process along.

A Painful History That Still Echoes

Zimbabwe’s land reform programme under the late President Robert Mugabe was meant to address colonial-era land ownership imbalances. Roughly 4,000 commercial farms, largely white-owned, were seized and redistributed to black Zimbabweans.

The programme, however, became synonymous with violence, forced evictions and political patronage. Some farms fell into neglect. The agriculture sector, once the backbone of Zimbabwe’s economy, collapsed, leading to food shortages and long term economic damage.

For the former farmers who lost their livelihoods, the years since have been marked by financial struggle and legal battles. Many invested their entire working lives into these farms and have little else to fall back on.

“It is a serious strain on the farmers, especially those who are elderly and have no other sources of income,” said Harry Orphanides from the Property and Farm Compensation Association. Some, he noted, are truly desperate.

Will The US Step In?

Whether the Trump administration chooses to intervene remains uncertain. Analysts warn that US engagement would be deeply transactional. Zimbabwe has valuable mineral resources, including lithium, platinum and gold, and any diplomatic involvement would likely come with expectations.

Rights lawyer Siphosami Malunga described the issue as morally and legally complex. On one hand, colonial era land dispossession has never been fully addressed. On the other, the farmers were promised compensation and are within their rights to demand what was agreed.

South Africa based political analyst Nicole Beardsworth warned that US intervention could lead to outcomes that stretch far beyond the farmers’ original goal. She called the possibility a risky prospect that may bring unintended consequences.

Opposition politician Trust Chikohora added that pushing Zimbabwe to pay quickly might backfire, arguing that the country simply does not have the financial capacity to meet such demands in the short term.

A Race Against Time

For the farmers still waiting, this is not only about money. It is about recognition, closure and dignity in the final chapters of their lives. As the years pass, their numbers dwindle, and the urgency grows.

Their appeal to Washington marks yet another twist in a decades long struggle that still shapes Zimbabwe’s political and economic realities. Whether this latest move brings relief or deeper complications remains to be seen, but one thing is clear. Time is no longer on their side.

{Source:EWN}

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