In Zimbabwe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is facing increasing criticism for its decision to return the land to white former farmers who lost their land under the government’s fast track Land Reform Program almost 20 years ago.
The announcement which was made by Anxious Masuka, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, and Mthuli Ncube, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, came as a surprise to many as it defeats the whole purpose of the liberation struggle.
Many feel double-crossed by the government’s decision to take land from some resettled black families and give it back to white former commercial farmers after it had always insisted that the Land Reform Program was irreversible.
Scores of people took to social media to express their outrage over the government’s decision to compensate the white former farmers under the signed Global Compensation Deed as they claim that it is not only unconstitutional but it is also a huge betrayal of the liberation struggle.
Here are some of the comments from Twitter:
ZANU spent years hoodwinking people that land reform was irreversible; that it would never pay compensation for land. We told them they were lying. Now they have gone a step further than compensation, they are returning the actual land. Imagine the fuss all along & the waste. pic.twitter.com/35YqSWQKRH
— Alex T Magaisa 🇿🇼 (@Wamagaisa) August 31, 2020
