Zimbabwe is finalizing a new policy that will entrench property rights for people who were resettled on farms seized from White commercial operators 26 years ago, according to the nation’s lands and rural development minister.

The policy, which is expected to be approved by the cabinet by year-end, “guarantees that the land reform is irreversible and moves us safely into a transformative rural economy,” Vangelis Haritatos said in an interview in Bulawayo, the second-biggest city. “We are already on the final draft.”In 2000, then-Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe encouraged Black subsistence farmers and youths to invade White-owned farms, seizures he said were necessary to address colonial-era injustices. Agricultural production collapsed as a result, with the property never formally changing hands and the new owners unable to use it as collateral to raise the money they needed to farm.

The land grabs led to international sanctions, and in 2020 the government agreed to pay the White farmers $3.5 billion in compensation as it sought to build relations with the international community. To date, the government has dispensed $800 million in the form of cash and treasury bills, according to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube.

The new policy will consolidate the gains of the government’s land-reform initiatives by “promoting an inclusive, transparent and equitable land-administration system that protects legitimate landowners and expands opportunities for women, youth and vulnerable groups,” Haritatos told lawmakers.