ZANU-PF government under Robert Mugabe stunned the world with his policies but was praised in equal measure at home after rising to power in 1994. He proposed radical changes to Zimbabwe's land ownership rules, forcing thousands of white Zimbabwean farmers to give up their farms to more than one million landless black Zimbabweans. His main mission was to correct injustices that had been carried out by the colonial government.
Many Whites fled to neighboring countries with South Africa and Zambia absorbing the majority of them while others migrated back to their native countries in Europe. The few who remained turned into businesses in urban areas and leased afresh from new owners who were not able to do extensive farming.
White farmers who made up 10% of the country's population possessed 70% of the country's most arable land, which they inherited from a colonial past based on a racial hierarchy with support from the colonial regime. Black people were forcefully evicted and their lands were given to Whites who were arriving in large numbers.
"You took our land by force and we will take it by force and sent you back to Britain. You have no right to own our parent's ancestral land", Mugabe declared to White farmers.
Zimbabwe is currently a low-income country with a food deficit as it relies on imports. More than 7.7 million individuals are food insecure with children being affected most by 2022.
The genesis of Zimbabwe's food deficits
Apart from land repossession, other numerous causes have aggravated the food security situation. High poverty rate, HIV/AIDS pandemic, restricted employment possibilities, currency liquidity issues, recurring climate-induced shocks, and economic instability are all factors that hinder appropriate food access.
Some observers attribute Zimbabwe's shift from a food exporter to an importer to the country's land reform program, which saw white commercial farmers lose their farms to landless blacks who are alleged to lack farming skills and cash to carry out extensive farming like Whites. Agricultural exports used to account for over 40% of the country's foreign currency profits but have dropped to below 10%.
How Powerful and corrupt government officials grab millions of hectares of land
Because Zimbabwe's government lacked land distribution systems to identify true landless people, powerful black government officials including the Mugabe family seized large track of land totallup up to millions of hectares. Most of them had no prior farming knowledge or capital to keep the previous pace of resource-rich expertise's White farmers.
Several white farmers and their black laborers were massacred by youth supporters of ZANU-PF who sow an opportunity to take over fertile farmlands, farm machines, and other properties. Massive and armed mobs of self-styled war veterans and youth militia carried out attacks as the government turned away from them.
Negative effects of former president Mugabe's land reforms.
Mugabe's increasingly confrontational and authoritarian behavior turned Zimbabwe into a pariah on the international scene, as the government lost international trust. In response to the violent land reform, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions. Some of the sanctions are still in effect today.
The economy, food production, and civil, rights all suffered as a result of the upheaval. One of Africa's most powerful economies shrunk to half its 1980 size. As a result of the country's unprecedented hyperinflation, ten percent of the population was forced to flee to neighboring nations with South Africa absorbing lots of them.
How the current regime is correcting Mugabe's economic and political blunders
Current president Mnangagwa is trying to correct his predecessor's legacy by supporting evicted farmers. The government is compensating white farmers who were displaced in the early 2000s with millions of dollars as directed by the US and Britain that they could lift economic sanctions. However, many issues remain unresolved as the government imposes extra talons on citizens to get enough money to pay White farmers.
Zimbabwe has offered to return the underutilized land in hands of Blacks to foreign nationals whose farms were confiscated processes are ongoing to identify and kicked them out to create space for former White farmers.
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