Zimbabwe to pay $331 million to white ex-farmers in effort to ease debt crisis

Zimbabwe plans to pay $331 million to white farmers whose land was taken back in 2000, in a bid to get creditors on board for restructuring the country’s massive debt, which has kept it shut out of international markets for more than 20 years.

Several white farmers lost their homes and large portions of land when Zimbabwe’s then-president, Robert Mugabe, initiated a controversial land redistribution program in 2000. The program was intended to address historical land imbalances.

The country has identified at least 439 former landowners as “beneficiaries” for the financial settlement, according to African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, who spoke at a debt conference in Harare on Monday. However, he did not provide a timeline for the payments, Bloomberg reported.

Zimbabwe has allocated $35 million from this year’s budget to begin the payments, which will be made via bonds, Adesina confirmed.

In 2022, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa enlisted the help of African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina and former Mozambican leader Joaquim Chissano to lead negotiations with creditors, including the World Bank, Paris Club, European Investment Bank, and the AfDB.

Last month, Zimbabwe hired Global Sovereign Advisory and Kepler-Karst to assist in restructuring its $21 billion debt. The country has also been considering a Debt-for-Climate swap as a potential solution for its creditors.

The country’s arrears have prevented it from securing financing from multilateral lenders like the International Monetary Fund, forcing it to rely on the central bank for funding.

“No one, no matter how strong, can run up a hill with a backpack of sand on their back,” Adesina said, likening Zimbabwe’s $21 billion of debt — the bulk of which is arrears — to the burden.

“We can all agree that we must play our part to correct this anomaly by giving a new lease of life to this nation and its people,” he said. “Zimbabwe is too critical for the world to ignore.”