Zimbabwe will return dozens of foreign-owned farms seized more than two decades ago during a land reform drive, but is not reversing the contested policy, the agriculture minister said Friday.
The land grab was launched by longtime ruler Robert Mugabe in 2000, with thousands of white farmers evicted, often violently, and their land redistributed to black Zimbabweans to address colonial-era injustices.
The policy triggered sanctions, deepening the country’s economic isolation by limiting its access to the international banking system.
The government will return 67 farms covered by bilateral investment pacts “but which remained unoccupied” to the investors, Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka said in a statement.
