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REUTERS
HARARE
A white Zimbabwean farmer kicked off his property at gunpoint in June has been told he will be going home within days, the first signs of the post-Robert Mugabe government making good on promises to respect agricultural property rights.
Rob Smart said he understood his case had been taken up by President Mnangagwa, who heard of Smart's violent eviction while at an investment conference in Johannesburg.
"Our new governor is getting us back on the farm." he said.
According to media reports at the time, Smart and his family, including two small grandchildren, were kicked off their Lesbury farm along with scores of workers in early June by riot police armed with tear gas and AK-47 assault rifles.
In all, the eviction would have hit the livelihood of as many as 5,000 people he said.
Reuters reported in September that Mnangagwa was plotting with the military, liberation war veterans and businessmen including current and former white farmers to take over from Mugabe. In the latter half of his 37 years in power, Zimbabwe's economy collapsed, especially after the violent and chaotic seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms under the banner of post-colonial land reform.
Mugabe resigned last month in the wake of a de facto military coup, paving the way for Mnangagwa, who had been purged as his deputy only a week before, to take over as leader of the southern African nation.
