HARARE – Zimbabwe’s plan to compensate white farmers whose land was acquired for resettlement has lurched into legal trouble after a group of war veterans challenged the agreement which they argue is “unconstitutional.”

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, seeking to restore ties with western governments who were critical of the land seizures, has committed to pay US$3,5 billion to just over 4,000 farmers but only for improvements to the land, and not the land itself.

The scheme first announced in 2020 has made little progress. To date, the Zimbabwe government has paid just US$3 million for 378 farms.

Now five veterans of the 1970s bush war leading to Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 are challenging the compensation agreement which they argue cannot be implemented without a new law of parliament.

Represented by rights lawyer and former finance minister Tendai Biti, the ex-combatants are also questioning the secrecy around the deal and the methodology of calculating what is due to each farmer. Ultimately, they are asking the High Court to declare the compensation agreement unconstitutional and void.

Should they win in court, the entire scheme – whose delayed implementation has led to much consternation among the ageing farmers – could be in jeopardy.

In an affidavit accompanying the court application, war veteran Joseph ‘Ginger’ Chinguwa says it has been stated by the finance minister Mthuli Ncube in particular that there exists a Global Compensation Agreement between the government and the farmers for the payment of US$3,5 billion.

Said Chinguwa: “The challenge we have as war veterans is that the government has not disclosed how it assessed and valued the US$3,5 billion… There must be a disclosure of the improvements that were being valued. Is it dams? Is it buildings? Is it anything permanently affixed to the land?”

The war veterans are arguing that “in our respectful view, anything permanently affixed to the land is part of the land… This would include, for instance, dams, buildings, fruit, coffee or tea plantations.”

If the compensation is for movable assets such as fences, center pivots, tractors or irrigation pipes, these must be subjected to depreciation calculations, they told the High Court.

“There is no law in Zimbabwe that offers a method of assessment and valuation of improvements.,” the war veterans said.

In the absence of such a law, they argue that an act of parliament was required to give effect to section 295(3) of the constitution which provides that individuals whose agricultural land was acquired by the state are entitled to compensation by the state “only for improvements that were on the land when it was acquired.”

Argues Chinguwa on behalf of the war veterans: “It follows in our view that the government needed to present before parliament a comprehensive Act of Parliament that defined the methodology of calculating compensation, the land and improvements to be compensated and the identities of the beneficiaries.

“None of this was done. To this day the Global Compensation Agreement is a closely kept secret. In a country governed by the rule of law and constitutionalism, this is clearly unconstitutional.

“We are not concerned with the availability of the Global Compensation Agreement at this stage. Our argument is simply that by agreeing to a compensation of US$3,5 billion in the absence of an Act of Parliament envisaged in section 295(4), the government acted outside the constitution of Zimbabwe.

“The Global Compensation Agreement is therefore ultra vires the provisions of section 295(4) of the constitution of Zimbabwe. It must be set aside…”

The decision to compensate white farmers has divided Zanu PF. Mnangagwa’s eagerness to make peace with the farmers in the hope of mending relations with western countries reportedly does not enjoy the support of his deputy Constantino Chiwenga, who believes the money would be better spent on public infrastructure and social programmes.

The war veterans’ court application carries similar sentiments.

“Land was at the epicentre of our struggle for independence. As war veterans, we are particularly concerned that US$3,5 billion is being paid to farmers when we war veterans are dying and languishing in deep poverty across the length and breadth of the country and our hospitals are without medicines and schools without textbooks,” they said.

Chinguwa is joined in the application by Godfrey ‘Zvabhendazvabhenda’ Gurira, Joseph ‘Hitler Bazooka’ Chinyangare, Reuben Zulu and Digmore Ndiya.

The matter is yet to be set down for hearing.