Zimbabwe says it will compensate local and foreign white farmers who lost land and property more than 20 years ago in farm seizures meant to redress some of the wrongs of colonialism.

About 4,000 white farmers lost their homes and swathes of land when the Black-majority country’s then-president, Robert Mugabe, launched the often-chaotic redistribution program in 2000, which turned violent at times. Mugabe, who died in 2019, said it was aimed at addressing colonial-era land inequities after the southern African nation gained independence from white minority rule in 1980.

Compensation Plans and Payment Structures

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube announced Wednesday at a meeting with diplomats that his government approved 441 applications for compensation worth $351.6 million from local white farmers and 94 applications from foreigners worth $196.6 million, but only 1%, or $3.5 million, will be paid in cash to local farmers who lost land. The balance, Ncube said, will be paid through the issuance of treasury bonds.

Foreigners will receive an initial $20 million to be shared equally among the 94 claimants from Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and several countries in eastern Europe, he said.

White farmers who owned the majority of prime farmland were removed from their farms, often forcibly by violent mobs led by veterans of the country’s 1970s independence war. Some farmers and their workers died or were seriously injured in the violence that included beatings and rape, according to Human Rights Watch.

The Consequences of the Land Seizures

The seizures badly impacted commercial farming, forcing a country that was a key regional food producer and exporter to rely on assistance from donors. Zimbabwe’s agriculture sector has rebounded in recent years, but recent droughts are now the main challenge.

The compensation for the local farmers is not for the land — which Mugabe’s government said had been seized from Zimbabwe’s Black majority under colonialism — but for infrastructure such as buildings, wells and irrigation equipment. However, foreigners covered under agreements that seek to protect the property of foreign investors will be paid for both the land and the infrastructure.

Controversial Policy Shifts and Criticism

The payments are expected in the last quarter of 2024, finance minister Ncube said. Zimbabwe has been in talks with creditors, led by the African Development Bank, since 2022 to restructure its $21 billion in debt, with the white farmers’ compensation a sticking point.

In 2020, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government signed a compensation deal with the white farmers. Mnangagwa, who took power in 2017 after Mugabe was forced to resign following a popular coup, has sought to engage the white farmers and has even encouraged them to apply for new pieces of land.

All farmland now belongs to the government and those occupying it can only do so under lease. However, in a major policy shift, the government announced plans this month to allow beneficiaries of the reform program to sell the land they gained, but only to “Indigenous Zimbabweans,” a reference to Black Zimbabweans.

The move has attracted widespread criticism, especially because some who were politically connected became owners of multiple farms under the land redistribution that was meant to help the poor, and can now cash in.

Nigeria will become one of the first countries to roll out a new malaria vaccine after receiving a first batch of 846,200 doses.

Developed by scientists at the University of Oxford in England, the R21 vaccination was produced by the Serum Institute of India and Novavax.

The Nigerian Health Minister, Muhammad Ali Pate, says the doses represent a significant milestone in the country’s efforts to eliminate malaria.

Mosquitoes, which spread the disease to humans through bites, breed in water and are especially plentiful during the rainy season.

Malaria remains a major public health challenge in Nigeria, affecting some 97 per cent of the population.

According to the World Health Organization, it is the world’s worst-affected country, accounting for 31 per cent of global deaths from the disease.

The health ministry says the inoculations, which were procured in partnership with the international Vaccine Alliance, Gavi, will be administered freely.

A trial roll out will begin in two states with the highest malaria burden, Kebbi in the north and Bayelsa on the coast, before expanding nationwide.

A balance of 153,800 more doses is expected in the country on 26 October, bringing the number of available vaccines to a million.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has cancelled the auction of 27 sites earmarked for oil exploration, its government said, citing late bids and a lack of competition.

The auction of these sites, known as oil blocks, was launched two years ago but was cancelled because it was not as successful as expected and a new auction will be held, Oil Minister Aime Sakombi Molendo said in a statement. He gave no details on the timetable or the number of blocks that will be auctioned.

The 27 oil blocks whose auction was cancelled contain an estimated 22 billion barrels of oil.

The mineral-rich central African country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is believed to have significant oil reserves. Still, drilling has been limited to a small area on the Atlantic Ocean and offshore.

The auction is expected to be a game changer.

Environmental agencies have been sounding the alarm since the DRC launched the auction in July 2022, saying auctioning off more land for drilling would have consequences both in the DRC and abroad.

The DRC is home to most of the Congo Basin rainforest, the second largest in the world, and most of the world’s largest tropical peatland, composed of partially decomposed plant material from wetlands.

Together, they capture huge amounts of carbon dioxide — about 1.5 billion tons a year, or about 3% of global emissions. More than a dozen of the auctioned plots straddle protected areas of peatlands and rainforests, including Virunga National Park, home to some of the world’s rarest gorillas.

Nigeria’s Super Eagles squad arrived in Abuja on Tuesday, after boycotting their AFCON qualifier in Libya.

The decision came after the fooball team were stranded overnight at an airport in Libya, in what the team captain called ‘mind games’.

On Sunday, the players were meant to land in Benghazi, but their plane was diverted to Al Abraq, more than 200km away.

Those travelling were ‘abandoned’ and locked in the building, after arranging to leave, according to a Nigeria Football Federation official.

The chairman of the house committee on sports, Kabiru Amadu, said he was shaken by the trip, but that he was relieved to be back.

‘This trip, I wouldn’t say it was okay but, we thank God that we went and we came back safe. But it was a hostage situation,’ Amadu said.

Meanwhile the Libyan football federation said it was ‘deeply concerned’ by the incident, but rejected suggestions of foul play.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited a Black-owned art gallery in Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday, as part of her outreach to Black male voters. Accompanied by actors Don Cheadle, Delroy Lindo, and Detroit native Cornelius Smith Jr., Harris engaged in a conversation focused on entrepreneurship and economic empowerment for Black men. The visit marked the unveiling of her “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men,” which aims to offer new economic advantages, including forgivable business loans of up to $20,000 for entrepreneurs and the expansion of apprenticeship programs. The agenda also includes funding for research into diseases like sickle cell anemia, which disproportionately affect Black men.

Harris’ focus on Black male voters has sharpened in recent weeks, with former President Barack Obama even joining her on the campaign trail. Speaking in Pittsburgh, Obama addressed the importance of Black male voters and acknowledged some resistance within the group, saying, “some just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.” The campaign is not overly concerned about a major shift of Black male voters to the Republican camp but is wary of voter apathy, which could lower turnout.

In contrast, former President Donald Trump, campaigning in Atlanta, urged his supporters to take full advantage of early voting, which is already underway in several states. “I’m hearing very good things,” Trump said at the rally, noting record early voting numbers. He encouraged his followers to return their mail-in ballots immediately or vote in person as soon as possible, underscoring the importance of turnout in securing Republican victories.

As both candidates focus on key voter groups, Harris’ campaign is working to ensure Black male voters remain engaged, while Trump’s team is concentrating on mobilizing early voters, especially in swing states like Georgia and Arizona. With early voting now in full swing, voter turnout is expected to play a pivotal role in shaping the 2024 election outcome.

More than 140 people, including children, were killed and dozens were injured in Nigeria after an overturned gasoline tanker truck exploded in flames while they were trying to scoop up fuel pouring from the vehicle, emergency services said Wednesday.

The accident occurred at midnight in Jigawa state’s Majiya town when the tanker driver lost control of the vehicle while traveling on a highway, police spokesperson Lawan Adam said. Residents rushed to the scene and were scooping up fuel, “sparking a massive inferno,” he said.

“Close to 140 people were put in a mass grave apart from people buried in other places,” Nura Abdullahi, head of the National Emergency Management Agency in the region, told The Associated Press.

Residents of Majiya were in mourning on Wednesday as they held a mass burial for the victims. Most of the bodies were unrecognizable, emergency services said.

Deadly tanker accidents are common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, where traffic regulations are not strictly enforced in many places and there is a lack of an efficient railway system to transport cargo.

It is also common for people to salvage fuel with cups and buckets to take home after such accidents. The practice has become more common because of soaring fuel prices, which have tripled since the start of last year as the government ended costly gas subsidies.

The driver involved in the accident had traveled about 110 kilometers (68 miles) from neighboring Kano state, police said.

The Jigawa State Emergency Management Agency initially put the death toll at 105, including those who died while being treated at hospitals.

Most other victims were “burned to ashes” at the scene of the accident, said Dr. Haruna Mairiga, head of Jigawa emergency services.

“If they knew (about the danger), they wouldn’t have gone to fetch (the fuel),” Mairiga said.

He said emergency services arrived at the scene several hours after the accident.

Resident Sani Umar told local Channels Television that the fire “spread so quickly that many couldn’t escape.”

“People were running in all directions, screaming for help,” Umar said.

“This is a heartbreaking moment for us all,” said state police Commissioner Ahmadu Abdullahi.