Govt disburses US$3,1m to former farm owners

GOVERNMENT has disbursed US$3,1 million for the first batch of 378 processed farms earmarked for compensation to former farm owners (FFOs) who lost their land during the chaotic 2001 fast-track land reform programme.

The land reform programme saw white farmers lose their properties in controversial ways, often violent, after the government gave the go-ahead to do so.

However, the black farm owners who displaced and replaced the FFOs have mostly failed to get these farms to be the active economic contributors they once were.

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