HUNDREDS of white farmers who had been discriminated against while their black counterparts were getting 99 yearlong leases instead of 5 years have a reason to celebrate as they have now been put in the same bracket.

According to NewZimbabwe.com, the decision to give the 99-year leases comes barely two months after President Emmerson Mnangagwa, in his inauguration speech, announced that his government was going to compensate white farmers whose land was violently seized during the controversial land reform programme under former president Robert Mugabe.

In a statement to eight acting provincial resettlement officers throughout the country, the Lands Ministry said there should be no more restrictive five-year leases to white farmers.

“Please be informed that the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement has directed that all remaining white farmers be issued 99-year leases instead of the 5-year leases as per the previous arrangement,” said the statement Tuesday.   

The 99 year leases now being offered to all farmers, according to the Lands Ministry, are immediately bankable.