The government of Zimbabwe has turned its words into actions, and quite rapidly at that. Indeed, less than a month after President Emmerson Mnangagwa (photo) has declared in his investiture speech that white farmers expropriated in the framework of the land reform initiated by his predecessor, Robert Mugabe, will be compensated, a first farmer, Robert Smart, just got back his lands which were taken from him and given to a religious close to the former president.

“M. Smart, like many others, was a victim of racial discrimination, avidity and power abuse. Their lands were confiscated illegally,” an advisor to the President told AFP.

Symbolic or precursor, this restitution concretizes a political promise which many did not believe in and still have doubts about. Truly, this single act is far from reassuring all white Zimbabwean farmers.