Responding to questions in Parliament last Wednesday, Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri said new farmers are contributing to the compensation of the former white farmer.
He however said the new farmers are not making the contributions directly but through Government. Said Shiri:
It is true that the new farmers have to contribute towards the cost of improvement on the farms and that money ultimately is used for compensating the former farmers. There are improvements that were done on the farms and the new farmer is utilising those improvements. Let me categorically state that the compensation is not being done directly from the new farmer to the former farmer but is being done through Government. It makes sense that instead of labouring the tax payer, the person who is directly benefitting from those improvements contributes towards the compensation of the former farmer. We also have the aspect of the leases that are paid by the farmers at the rate of three dollars per hectare per year. All that money is meant to actually go towards the compensation of the former farmers.
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