Veteran freedom fighter and opposition politician Moses Mzila Ndlovu has accused the Zimbabwean government of hypocrisy for compensating white former commercial farmers while continuing to ignore long-standing calls for restitution of ZPRA and ZAPU properties that were seized without compensation.
Ndlovu made the remarks after the government announced this week that it had made an initial payment of US$3 million to white farmers under the 2020 compensation agreement.
According to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, the payment represents one percent of the initial US$311 million allocated for the first batch of 378 farms—out of a total of 740—approved for compensation. The remaining amount will be paid through US dollar-denominated Treasury bonds.
Mzila Ndlovu, who served as a co-Minister of National Healing, Reconciliation, and Integration in Zimbabwe’s Government of National Unity (GNU), said:
It is ironic how ZPRA and ZAPU properties acquired in the open land and property market with collective demobilisation payouts were unjustifiably seized without compensation.
Meanwhile, most of the land seized from black people starting in 1890 by whites is now being compensated by a government claiming to be pro-justice.
More: CITE
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