Desperate and ageing white farmers whose land was seized during Robert Mugabe’s rule more than two decades ago hope Donald Trump may be able to help them get billions of dollars in unpaid compensation owed to them by Zimbabwe’s government.
After all, some of them argue, the US president intervened last year to fight for the rights of white farmers in neighbouring South Africa, where he feels they are being “persecuted” because of their race – claims that have been widely discredited.
Trump has offered members of South Africa’s white Afrikaner community, many of whom are farmers, refugee status in the US.
Most of the Zimbabwean farmers are not keen to go down that route – they just want their government to honour a deal made in 2020 by Mugabe’s successor, and former deputy, President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
And some see Zimbabwe’s vast and untapped deposits of rare-earth minerals and the transactional nature of Trump’s politics as key to unlocking the cash.
After Mnangagwa took over, he was eager to heal the wounds of the chaotic land reform programme of the early 2000s when 4,500 mainly white-owned farms – half of the country’s best farmland – were taken over by black Zimbabweans and around 2,500 white farmers evicted.
The seizures – meant to redress a colonial-era land grab – led to the collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy. The agricultural sector had been its backbone – and was further crippled by sanctions slapped by Western nations outraged by the disorderly nature of the redistribution of the land to black farmers.
Mnangagwa, as part of his mission to reform Zimbabwe’s tarnished reputation following the toppling of Mugabe, promised to pay the white farmers for infrastructure and improvements to the land – a package that came to $3.5bn (£3bn).
The hitch has been that Zimbabwe, grappling with a debt burden of a whopping $23bn, cannot afford to settle up with the former farmers.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa (R) has made efforts to reconcile with Zimbabwe’s white community
Instead it offered a compromise deal last year – those who signed up for it got 1% of their total compensation, while the rest was issued as treasury bonds that mature in 10 years, with 2% interest paid twice a year.
“Most farmers won’t be around in 10 years’ time,” said one of them, who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity – adding that there was no guarantee the government would be able to honour the future payments.
This ex-farmer’s mother – who had been a co-owner of their farm – is well over 90 years old and has spent the last 25 years awaiting hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation.
She is now being supported by British-based charity Zimbabwe A National Emergency (Zane), which provides a twice-yearly stipend to struggling pensioners.
Only around 17% of the former farmers have taken up the government’s new offer – representing 700 farms.
The beneficiaries told the BBC that although sometimes late, the government was honouring its commitment with interest payments.
But what was a tightly knit community is now divided in its approach to compensation – and some see Trump as key to speeding things up.
To that end a Washington-based lobby group Mercury Public Affairs LLC, which has ties to the Trump administration, has been engaged.
This was done via OB Projects Management, a South African business consultancy firm that has said it is representing the Zimbabwean farmers.
This came to light because of a declaration filed by Mercury in late December with the Department of Justice – US law requires those engaged in political activity on behalf of foreign organisations to disclose the relationship.
The documentation showed OB Projects’ letter of engagement addressed to Mercury partner Bryan Lanza, external, a Republican strategist and former Trump elections campaign communications director.
It said Mercury’s services, to be provided free of charge, would include “contacting appropriate officials in the current administration and Congress to promote paying the Zimbabwean farmers the remaining balance of $3.5bn”.
The letter explained that it envisioned this would happen by the US government supporting the clearance of Zimbabwe’s debt and new financing arrangements via institutions “including the World Bank”.
It would be quite a feat if Zimbabwe was able to refinance its debts, as the southern African nation has not received loans from the World Bank in more than 25 years after it defaulted on interest payments.
This is also linked to US legislation enacted in 2001 as a consequence of the land reform programme.
The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA), external specifically requires the US Treasury to vote against any new loans, credits or debt relief for Zimbabwe from international financial institutions.
It also says the president should impose targeted economic and travel sanctions on those responsible for the violence and the breakdown in law.
Since 2024 this has only affected 11 individuals, including President Mnangagwa, and three companies – now applied under a separate US law known as the Global Magnitsky Act.
But a new congressional bill published last year – which says it is intended to guide US foreign policy, external – intends to repeal ZDRA.
Sponsored by Republican Brian Mast, who is chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, it has a key proviso that any future international funding be contingent on Zimbabwe settling the outstanding compensation for farmers within 12 months.
The bill has yet to be considered by the two houses of Congress – so there is a long way to go before it becomes law, but the timing is propitious for the lobbyists, who have key White House contacts.
Susie Wiles, now Trump’s chief of staff, served as Mercury’s co-chair for several years before her appointment at the start of the president’s second term.
OB Projects said it was representing the Zimbabwean farmers on behalf of four groups – though some of them have disputed this.
Zimbabwe’s Property and Farms Compensation Association (Profca) chairman Bud Whittaker confirmed to the BBC that his organisation had written to an American firm “a month or two ago” asking them to “look into” the matter.
But the main farming organisation, the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), has distanced itself from the US lobby group, according to a report by the Bloomberg news agency.
Its members represent the larger faction of farmers, who have rejected the government bonds offer.
A CFU member, not authorised to speak for the group, cited concerns that the OB Projects’ letter to Mercury was sent on their behalf without consulting them.
He told the BBC: “We would support anything that can support compensation in a fair way in accordance with international standards.”
The CFU was speaking not only to US diplomats in Harare but to other Western embassies for support to secure outright payment, he added.
Some farmers fear that involving Trump could lead to worsening relations between Washington and Harare – as has happened in South Africa.
They feel Trump’s approach there was too racialised and say the white community still wants to make a go of it in Zimbabwe, with some who went to live overseas during the economic crash returning to take up business opportunities. – BBC
