Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa says the move is aimed at restoring the country’s battered image. “This is a major problem that we have to grapple with. We have to confront our problems. It is imperative to improve confidence not just with the international community but amongst ourselves,” he told delegates during a presentation by an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission.
The government has been fighting court battles with hundreds of commercial farmers who were dispossessed of their farms. The violent and corrupt land “reform” programme, which saw hundreds of commercial farms grabbed by senior Zanu (PF), government and armed forces personnel, strained relations between Zimbabwe and Western nations, particularly Britain.
Chinamasa said that even though Zimbabwe might be lacking the financial resources to honour its obligations, the government needed to acknowledge that they owe the former white commercial farmers.
“I don’t have the money to meet that compensation but what I would want to see happening is that there is a determination in terms of what we owe and a commitment from the government that we owe money. We do not have the money but at least, let’s take the preliminary steps that we have to take towards that major step,” he said.
The government needed to first carry out valuations to ascertain what it owes to the farmers, he added. The IMF team, led by Domenico Fanizza reiterated that confidence building measures were critical as far as rescuing Zimbabwe’s economy from further decline was concerned.
Post published in: Agriculture