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Uncertainty, Anxiety Mount in Zimbabwe Over Land Compensation Promise

Columbus Mavhunga

   MAZOWE, ZIMBABWE - Anxietyand confusion have gripped Zimbabwe's Black
   farmers after the government said it would return land to some white
   farmers who were kicked off their land under former president Robert
   Mugabe. Authorities are seeking to reassure resettled Black farmers in
   what some fear may be a reversal of land reforms.

   Heinrich von Pezold lost part of his land in 2001, in Mazowe district
   about 100kilometersnorth of Harare,as Zimbabwe's government adopted a
   sweeping land reform policy and began forcing whites off their farms.

   Now he may get it back, under anagreement between the German and
   Zimbabwean governments to protect private investments in their
   respective countries, known as the Bilateral Investment Promotion and
   Protection Agreement.

   The German national took Zimbabwe's government to the International
   Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. The arbitration court,
   based in Washington, ordered the Zimbabwe government to pay
   compensation to von Pezold.

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