Guy Watson-Smith experienced deep emotional pain and a sense of betrayal when his 5,000-hectare farm in Beatrice, Zimbabwe was violently taken over by armed men in the early 2000s. The 51-year-old commercial farmer was not only losing his land but also leaving behind his workers and their families, many of whom he had known for years. The invasion forced Watson-Smith and his family to flee to Harare, seeking refuge with family in the city. This incident was part of the chaotic Fast Track Land Reform Program initiated by President Robert Mugabe to redistribute land from white farmers to landless Black Zimbabweans. However, the process was marred by corruption and economic instability, leaving the issue of land ownership unresolved. The historical context of land struggles in Zimbabwe dates back to colonial times, highlighting the deep-rooted injustices and tensions that have plagued the country for decades. They fled through the Beitbridge border post to South Africa on December 21, 2001, before later moving to France to start a new life.
Siphosami Malunga was at his farm in Matabeleland North in 2021, before his land was seized [Courtesy of Siphosami Malunga]
Even Black farmers not safe
Before the farm invasions, Zimbabwe was able to produce enough to feed itself and export to Southern Africa and Europe. Agriculture was the backbone of the economy, employing a large portion of the country’s workforce. Some Black Zimbabweans had also become successful farm managers.
Initially, Mugabe’s land expropriation program was intended to redistribute land to disadvantaged Black Zimbabweans to promote equity and agricultural development.
However, powerful officials took advantage of the program to seize productive farms from both white and Black farmers under the guise of correcting colonial injustices.
Kondozi Estates in eastern Zimbabwe was one of the farms seized by senior ZANU-PF figures in 2004.
The farm in Manicaland province was co-owned by Black Zimbabwean Edwin Moyo and the white de Klerk family.
At the time, it was a major exporter of fresh produce, supplying high-quality beans, gooseberries, corn, mangetout, and sugar snaps to European retailers like Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
It employed hundreds in Mutare, and its closure was a devastating blow to the local economy.
Similar situations occurred on other farms, with Black owners who were not connected to ZANU-PF facing evictions.
In 2021, human rights defender and lawyer Siphosami Malunga lost his farm to ZANU-PF secretary-general Obert Mpofu.
Although Zimbabwe’s lower courts later ruled in his favor and he was able to return to his farm while awaiting a High Court decision, the battle over its ownership continues.
“Land reform was necessary,” 53-year-old Malunga told Al Jazeera.
“The colonial project dispossessed Blacks, forcing them onto barren land while whites took the best farms. But the implementation of the reform enriched the elite while leaving ordinary Zimbabweans with nothing.”
Mugabe once advocated for a “one man, one farm” policy, but his allies disregarded it. Even his wife, Grace Mugabe, acquired at least 15 farms.
Most of the beneficiaries of the FTLRP were ZANU-PF loyalists, experts point out.
Rejoice Ngwenya, a political analyst based in Harare, stated that Mugabe’s land reform was not about Black empowerment.
“It had motives: firstly, to appease war veterans demanding more recognition; secondly, to punish white commercial farmers who supported the opposition. The man was insecure,” he told Al Jazeera.
“If you promise not to expropriate Black-owned farms, you should not touch Moyo or Malunga’s farms. But ZANU-PF doesn’t care,” he added.
Vivid Gwede, another Harare-based political analyst, mentioned that land ownership has been used as a tool to punish disloyalty or reward loyalty to the ruling party.
“Due to politics, some Black farmers have had their land invaded,” he said.
Many Zimbabweans rely on food aid from donors to survive [Farai Matiashe/Al Jazeera]
Compensation and rejection
Unlike white commercial farmers who had spent years learning the land, most of the ZANU-PF-aligned farmers who took over had no farming experience.
The new owners were individuals who had spent most of their lives in the bush fighting against white colonialists, while many experienced Black farm workers who had managed white-owned farms did not benefit from land reclamations.
As a result of the chaotic and violent invasions, knowledge of agricultural practices was not passed down.
Subsequently, the once-thriving agricultural economy of the Southern African nation began to face a food crisis, worsened by climate change.
For years, many Zimbabweans have relied on food aid from organizations like the United Nations World Food Programme. In April 2024, the government declared a national disaster as a severe El Nino-induced drought left over half of Zimbabwe’s 15.1 million people facing hunger.
The crisis revealed the country’s collapsed agricultural sector. Before the land seizures, white commercial farmers and Black farmers like Moyo had irrigation systems to combat droughts. ZANU-PF dismantled these systems, leaving the country vulnerable.
Zimbabwe’s decline in agricultural productivity is not just due to poor planning, but also a deeper culture of impunity, experts say.
Throughout the country, court orders to stop farm invasions and evictions of white commercial farmers were ignored. Since 2000, former farmers have filed numerous legal cases in an attempt to reclaim their assets, with little success.
The 2013 constitution promised compensation, but only for farm improvements, not for the land itself.
When Emmerson Mnangagwa took power in a 2017 military coup, he inherited a shattered economy, abandoned and poorly managed farms, food shortages, and high unemployment.
Seeking solutions, he reached a $3.5bn compensation deal with white farmers in 2020, aiming to improve relations with the West and lift US economic sanctions imposed in 2001. However, the plan stalled.
In October 2024, the government allocated $20m to compensate a few foreign white farmers from Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany affected by the land reform program.
This month, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube announced that the government had paid $3.1m to white former farmers who lost land during Zimbabwe’s land reform.
However, the Compensation Steering Committee (CSC), a domestic group representing white farmers, criticized the compensation as a symbolic gesture and rejected the deal, preferring negotiations instead.
“We’re open to dialogue, but they [the government] are not engaging with us,” Ian McKersie, chairman of the CSC, told Al Jazeera.
In response, Nick Mangwana, permanent secretary in Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Information, stated that there are “factions” among the white farmers. “If they speak out, they are speaking for themselves, not representing the majority,” he said. “It is absurd [to reject the deal]. It doesn’t make sense.”
Mangwana also denied ongoing land seizures, like the case of Malunga, whose farm was taken in 2021. “These are just disputes … It’s not a land grab. There are no land grabs in Zimbabwe,” he asserted.
Farm workers on Malunga’s farm in Matabeleland North in 2021 [Courtesy of Siphosami Malunga]
Untended farms and uncertain futures
Currently residing in France, Watson-Smith operates a real estate business.
However, his previously productive Alamein Farm in Zimbabwe has been neglected, with its land now less fertile than before.
After General Mujuru, one of Zimbabwe’s most feared individuals, seized Watson-Smith’s farm, he transformed it into a hunting ground. Setelah kematian Mujuru pada tahun 2011, istrinya, mantan Wakil Presiden Joice Mujuru, tetap memegang tanah tersebut tetapi kesulitan untuk merawatnya.
Sementara itu, Kondozi Estates, yang merupakan bagian besar dari peternakan yang dimiliki sebagian orang kulit hitam yang diambil oleh elit ZANU-PF, juga terbengkalai. Kunjungan tahun ini mengungkapkan peralatan yang ditinggalkan dan ladang yang ditumbuhi rumput liar.
Di seluruh negeri, peternakan yang disita tetap dibiarkan terbengkalai.
Selama reformasi agraria, peternakan diberikan sewa jangka panjang. Namun bank-bank menolak mengakui sewa tersebut sebagai jaminan, sehingga membuat para petani tidak bisa mendapatkan pinjaman.
Pada akhir tahun 2024, Presiden Mnangagwa memerintahkan Kementerian Pertanahan untuk menghentikan penerbitan izin dan sewa demi sertifikat kepemilikan. Namun para ahli memperingatkan bahwa hal ini bermasalah karena tidak menyelesaikan sengketa tanah antara petani yang didirikan kembali dan petani komersial kulit putih yang dispossessed.
“Jika pemerintah menerbitkan sertifikat kepemilikan atas tanah yang sudah memiliki sertifikat kepemilikan sejarah, itu tidak sah,” kata Willie Spies, seorang pengacara yang membantu warga Zimbabwe yang digusur, kepada Al Jazeera
“Proses yang sah memerlukan pemberian kompensasi kepada petani bekas dengan adil sebelum kepemilikan dialihkan.”
Petani baru sudah menerima subsidi negara, termasuk program mekanisasi pada tahun 2007 yang mendistribusikan traktor dan mesin panen tanpa pengembalian.
Hutang Zimbabwe sekarang mencapai $21 miliar, menurut Bank Dunia – $13 miliar yang terutang kepada kreditor internasional dan $8 miliar hutang dalam negeri. Sebagian dari hutang dalam negeri adalah hasil subsidi pertanian, yang akhirnya menguntungkan elit politik dan bukan petani miskin di pedesaan.
Korupsi sangat dalam, kata Malunga, yang masih menunggu keputusan pengadilan akhir tentang kepemilikan peternakannya.
“Program subsidi pertanian telah diambil alih oleh elit, memungkinkan korupsi besar-besaran dan pencurian miliaran,” katanya.
Walaupun sertifikat kepemilikan bisa memberikan keamanan lahan kepada pemilik peternakan baru, dia memperingatkan: “Ini berisiko menciptakan kelas pemilik tanah kulit hitam yang terpilih.”
Watson-Smith mencatat bahwa meskipun sertifikat kepemilikan membantu para petani seperti dia dengan “membuka pintu untuk kredit untuk irigasi, bendungan, dan setiap peningkatan peternakan”, memberikan sertifikat kepemilikan kepada pemilik peternakan baru tanpa menyelesaikan ketidakadilan masa lalu tidak memiliki makna.
“Mungkin akan mengesankan bank-bank Zimbabwe, tetapi pemberi pinjaman internasional tidak akan mengakui properti curian,” katanya.
Dahulu tulang punggung ekonomi Zimbabwe, pertanian sekarang lumpuh karena korupsi, pengelolaan yang buruk, dan keserakahan politik, kata para petani.
Sementara itu, bekas petani kulit putih banyak yang hidup dalam pengasingan diri di luar negeri, banyak petani kulit hitam biasa berada dalam kebimbangan, berhadapan dengan politisi senior dalam pertarungan untuk kepemilikan tanah.
Saat ini, Malunga kembali ke peternakannya, menanam tomat dan tanaman lainnya. Namun dia tetap tidak tenang.
“Menunggu keputusan Pengadilan Tinggi, kami berada dalam okupasi,” katanya, mengetahui bahwa masa depannya tidak pasti sampai hakim memutuskan.