Zimbabwe has disbursed more than US$520 million to former commercial farmers whose properties were acquired during the country’s land reform programme, in a...
Zimbabwe has disbursed more than US$520 million to former commercial farmers whose properties were acquired during the country’s land reform programme, in a move that forms part of efforts to resolve a longstanding compensation dispute and strengthen the country’s re-engagement with international creditors.
The Government has issued about US$508 million in Treasury bonds and made US$12.6 million in cash payments to former farmers, according to figures disclosed by Deputy Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion David Kudakwashe Mnangagwa.
The payments cover compensation claims arising from the land reform programme that began in earnest in 2000 under the Government of former President Robert Mugabe.
The latest figures were disclosed in Parliament after Manicaland Senator Brian James requested information on former farmers who had received compensation and the amounts paid.
According to Government figures reported by The Herald, 623 claimants have received Treasury bonds under the first two batches, with the bonds valued at about US$508.8 million.
The Government has adopted a bond-based payment mechanism as part of its revised compensation arrangements.
Mnangagwa said farmers who received the bonds had accepted and subscribed to the instruments.
“The payments came through after the farmers had accepted and subscribed to the bonds,” he told Bloomberg, according to Moneyweb.
The compensation programme is linked to the US$3.5 billion Global Compensation Deed agreed between the Government and former farm owners in 2020.
The agreement was designed to address compensation for improvements made to farms acquired during the land reform process. It did not generally amount to compensation for the market value of the land itself. The IMF has also described the 2020 agreement as compensation for land improvements.
The compensation issue has remained an important part of Zimbabwe’s efforts to rebuild relations with international creditors and development partners.
The IMF has identified farmers’ compensation and land-tenure reforms as one of the three pillars of Zimbabwe’s Structured Dialogue Platform, alongside economic reforms and governance reforms.
The IMF’s latest 2026 assessment said progress on compensation for acquired farms was part of the broader process towards arrears clearance, debt restructuring and renewed engagement with the international community.
Zimbabwe has struggled for years with substantial external debt arrears, limiting its access to new financing from international financial institutions.
The country is now implementing a Staff-Monitored Programme with the IMF as part of efforts to establish a track record of economic reforms and support its broader arrears-clearance strategy. In September 2026, IMF staff and Zimbabwean authorities reached a staff-level agreement on the second review of the programme.
Land reform background
Zimbabwe’s fast-track land reform programme accelerated in 2000, when large numbers of predominantly white-owned commercial farms were acquired and redistributed to black Zimbabweans.
The Government justified the programme as an effort to address the country’s highly unequal land ownership patterns inherited from the colonial period.
The process, however, resulted in prolonged disputes over property rights, compensation and land tenure, while Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector experienced major disruption.
The IMF has previously documented the scale of the land redistribution, noting that millions of hectares were transferred under the fast-track programme.
The compensation question subsequently became part of Zimbabwe’s wider efforts to address the economic and legal consequences of the land reform programme.
The Government later established the principle that compensation would primarily cover improvements made to acquired properties, while separate arrangements apply to certain properties covered by bilateral investment protection agreements.
Compensation remains incomplete
Despite the latest payments, the US$3.5 billion compensation commitment remains substantially larger than the amount disbursed so far.
The IMF’s 2025 debt sustainability assessment recorded the former farm owners’ compensation obligation at US$3.5 billion and said about 1,300 former farm owners were negotiating individual agreements involving US dollar Treasury bonds with maturities ranging from two to 10 years.
The IMF also reported that in April 2025 Zimbabwe paid US$3.1 million to a first group of 378 farms, with the remaining US$311 million due to that group expected to be paid through US dollar Treasury bonds.
The latest payments therefore represent progress in the compensation process but do not settle the full liability.
The issue is significant for Zimbabwe’s wider economic recovery strategy because the Government is seeking to improve investor confidence, resolve outstanding obligations and restore access to international capital.
The IMF has said successful progress under the country’s reform programme would support efforts towards arrears clearance, debt restructuring and re-engagement with the international community.
For the Government, compensation for former farmers is therefore part of a broader process involving land governance, property rights, economic reforms and debt resolution.
Zimbabwe’s challenge remains balancing the continued ownership and use of land redistributed under the fast-track programme with efforts to provide greater certainty over property rights and meet outstanding compensation obligations.
The latest disbursements indicate that the Government is continuing with the compensation process, although a significant portion of the original US$3.5 billion commitment remains outstanding.
