Zimbabwe to Return 67 Seized Farms to European Nationals
Zimbabwe will return 67 farms that were acquired during the country’s land reform programme to foreign nationals from four European countries covered under bilateral investment protection agreements, Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka has said.
According to Reuters, the farms belong to nationals from Denmark, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands, whose countries signed investment protection agreements with Zimbabwe before the land acquisitions began in 2000.
The land reform programme, launched under former president Robert Mugabe, saw thousands of white-owned commercial farms acquired by the state in what the government said was an effort to address colonial-era land ownership imbalances and resettle landless Black Zimbabweans.
The programme disrupted commercial agriculture, contributed to economic decline and hyperinflation, and strained Zimbabwe’s relations with Western lenders and investors.
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Masuka said government was already moving to hand back the farms.
“We are in the process of returning those to them,” he said in response to a question from a lawmaker.
The move comes as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration seeks to rebuild ties with Western nations and secure debt relief after more than two decades of economic isolation.
Zimbabwe’s foreign debt stood at US$13.6 billion as of September 2025, including US$7.7 billion in arrears. International lenders have called for reforms, including the resolution of land disputes, as part of conditions for debt restructuring and financial assistance.
Reuters reported that Zimbabwe is also implementing an International Monetary Fund staff-monitored programme aimed at building a track record of economic reforms, although the programme does not include direct funding.
Mnangagwa’s government agreed to a US$3.5 billion compensation deal with about 4,000 white former commercial farmers in 2020, but payments have been slow due to financial constraints.