Wikileaks Cable: Zimbabwe White farmers wanted US$20 billion compensation to end land dispute
Although legal issues exist in the recent spate of farm invasions ... the fate of remaining white farms is ultimately a political rather than a legal issue.... Having run out of options, the CFU appears to be setting down a marker in the hopes of future compensation. Prospects of this of course are dubious.
US Amb to Zim James McGhee & Trevor Gifford, Pres of CFU: Commercial Farmer's Union | Zimbabwe Insider & Wikileaks | 24 September 2012

The Commercial Farmers Union was prepared to accept a US$20 billion compensation package to end the land dispute in Zimbabwe which had rocked the country for more than a decade but Agriculture Minister Joseph Made felt that US$1.5 billion was more than enough.
According to a cable released by Wikileaks: Trevor Gifford, president of the Commercial Farmer's Union, requested a meeting with United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGhee on 15 April 2009, just two months after the formation of the inclusive government, to discuss a shift in strategy his organization was adopting regarding seized and threatened commercial farms in Zimbabwe.
Gifford said the CFU now wanted compensation of up to US$20 billion because his organisation felt that by making the issue compensation-based, rather than property-rights based, farmers stood a chance of taking the emotion out of the discussion and finding common ground with President Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF leaders.



