Recently, the Zimbabwe government has been making false statements about the issue of compensation for Zimbabwe’s White farmers who lost their farms in the illegal farm invasions from 2000 to 2003. The government is claiming that payments have started and that an agreement has been reached to settle the issue.
Those of you who have followed my story will know that I was one of those farmers. I was arrested and put in a police cell for three days and nights for refusing to leave our farm. We have never seen our home again and were forced to move to Canada to survive. Zimbabwe farmers are now scattered all over the world and many are in desperate financial straits.
The image above was taken during 6 weeks of intimidation in late 2002 when part of the mob of 60 surrounding the security fence around our house was blocking our only entrance to prevent us from leaving. In the background is Mildred, our brave maid who insisted on coming to work every day and forced her way through a narrow gap to get through the gate. Several of our workers refused to get involved in the intimidation, often at great risk.
A statement from the Compensation Steering Committee (CSC) setting the record straight is included below. A detailed account of one family’s experience by Ben Freeth is attached at the end of this post.
Please spread the correct story widely so that international pressure continues to be applied to the Zimbabwe government to compensate all those who had their farms stolen and the families of those who, like Martin Olds, Dave Stevens and others, were murdered for refusing to surrender to tyranny.
A link to a report on the murder of Martin Olds by a Zimbabwe Government hit squad is attached below.
| COMPENSATION STEERING COMMITTEE |
| mandated by |
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| MEDIA STATEMENT – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Compensation Steering Committee, Zimbabwe 15 April 2025 |
| Zimbabwe Government’s Farm Compensation Claims are Misleading – Thousands of Evicted Farmers Still Await Fair Compensation |
| Harare – The Compensation Steering Committee (CSC), the legally mandated body representing the majority of Zimbabwe’s dispossessed commercial farmers, today labelled recent government claims about compensation payments as misleading. In a media statement last week the Minister of Finance made a number of inaccurate claims regarding the settlement of compensation obligations. The same statement also quoted several individuals who do not represent the CSC or the majority of displaced farmers. In reality only a small token payment has been made and thousands of farmers – the significant majority by number – remain uncompensated. The limited number of farmers who have accepted the Government’s revised deal have generally done so because they are destitute and require urgent funds for food, accommodation and healthcare. More than 4,500 commercial farmers lost their homes and livelihoods during state-sanctioned land seizures in the early 2000’s. In July 2020 the government signed an agreement with the farmers called the Global Compensation Deed (GCD) to pay for improvements made on the land at a materially discounted value of US$3.5 billion. This discount compared to estimates by the Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) of US$10 billion and independent professional valuations of US$8.5 billion in 2020 values. The $3.5 billion negotiated discount in the 2020 GCD agreement was premised on a frontended 5 year payment schedule in USD cash of which half would be paid in Year 1 and the remainder in 4 annual instalments. The overwhelming majority of farmers supported this deal in a survey at the time. To date, almost 5 years on, nothing has been paid per this agreement. Instead, in 2023 the Government offered an alternative payment schedule in Government Treasury Bills over ten years heavily weighted towards years 5-10. A token 2 percent interest rate was added which compares to regional USD interest rates of 10-20%. This revised offer was put to the farmers in April 2023 via a formal survey in which it was rejected by the majority of farmers. Whereas 3100 voted in favour of the 2020 proposal, only 782 voted for the adjusted offer in 2023. This was clearly communicated to the Government in official correspondence. Despite this rejection, the Government pushed ahead with the revised offer that became known as the Farmers Compensation Agreement (FCA) in which 378 farms have now (nearly two years later) received initial payments of 1% of their share of the discounted offer. “The bottom line is that government’s recent payments represent a tiny fraction of the GCD’s $3.5 billion – which is already a substantial discount on the actual value of the properties, and these payments have reached fewer than 10% of farmers,” stated Deon Theron, Acting Chairman of the CSC and a former President of the CFU. “The FCA was originally presented as interim relief payments for distressed farmers, but is now being repositioned and repackaged as a comprehensive compensation solution. This is simply not the case.” The CSC members are appointed by the Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU), the Southern African Commercial Farmers’ Alliance (SACFA) and the Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI). These bodies collectively represent the majority of displaced farmers. The two individuals quoted as farmers representatives in the recent government press releases and international media are no longer representatives of the CSC or the CFU. Both Andrew Pascoe and Harry Orphanides were voted out of their previous roles more than a year ago in 2024 after ignoring democratic principles and continuing to pursue a deal that was rejected by the majority of the farmers they were supposed to represent. Allegedly they also ignored professional legal advice and have both failed to declare material conflicts of interest. The latest proposal to issue long-term unsecured government bonds as a compensation mechanism has also been rejected by the CSC. “These bonds do not clear the debt. They merely convert displaced farmers (Title Deed Holders) into bondholders reliant on very uncertain, very high-risk, very long-term payouts,” explained Angus Selby also representing the CSC. “Furthermore, we have a series of legal opinions questioning the limited recourse in the event of non-performance. It seems that the elderly, desperate and destitute are being used strategically as a Trojan horse to pretend that compensation has been resolved when the actual numbers and values tell a totally different story.” The CSC also emphasised that the FCA does not represent a substantive solution, nor does it meet the Government’s constitutional obligations to settle compensation at fair value within a reasonable timeframe. While the CSC acknowledges the government’s stated intent to pay, it insists that a more comprehensive and viable solution must be explored to meet the expectations of all key stakeholders. It also cautioned the international community that accepting or promoting the FCA as a quick convenient fix to meet other objectives such as debt restructuring is unhelpful and irresponsible under the circumstances. The CSC, mandated by the majority of affected farmers, urges the government to engage openly and constructively to resolve the compensation issue properly. Such collaboration is crucial not only for addressing the rights and needs of dispossessed farmers but also for revitalising Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector and strengthening both local and international trust. [ENDS] For further information: Contact Name: Deon Theron Organisation: Compensation Steering Committee (CSC) E-mail: csc@farmcompensation.org |
Like many others of Zimbabwe’s White farmers, we are working well past retirement age just to survive while our farms have reverted to unproductive bush or are being illegally used by those who have bought favour from the government.
Link to Ben Freeth’s report on farm Invasions
Link to report on Martin Old’s murder.
For more information on the sad state of Zimbabwe, see Zimbabwe Situation.
