A few months ago, tensions neared a breaking point in Zimbabwe over farmland that had been forcibly redistributed under former president Robert Mugabe's leadership.

A group of white Zimbabwean farmers sued Mugabe for seizing their land and demanded compensation. Mugabe was firmly against white ownership of the land, and even went so far as to refuse to prosecute citizens who killed the white farmers during the government seizure. 

Before the seizure, white Zimbabweans made up less than one percent of the country while owning a huge chunk of the most productive farmland. Ultimately, Mugabe wanted the white farmers to leave, and for black Zimbabweans to have ownership of the lands owned by their ancestors.

Cut to now: Robert Mugabe has been pushed out of power, and Zimbabwe has a new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mugabe resigned last month in response to the military and ruling party turning against him. Mnagagwa was once an ally of Mugabe's, but withdrew his support of the former president after he was fired as vice president. As president, Mnagagwa now believes that land reform is “inevitable."

In that climate, and as the new government works to figure out ways to boost the country's economy, the Associated Press reports that a plan has emerged to give white farmers their land back. This week, white farmer Robert Smart became the first white farmer to have the land Mugabe seized returned to them.

Smart returned to the land that had been seized from him escorted by a military official while black women and men of the community chanted,  “We have come to reclaim our farm."

“I am ecstatic. Words cannot describe the feeling,” said Darryn, Smart's son.

Many residents were happy about their return, having had a longtime relationship with the Smarts. 

“I have known this boy since day one,” mused 55 year-old Sevilla Madembo. “He was born here. I took care of him when he was young. He is back to take care of me now that I am old.”

The white farmers are eager to see more farms return to their hands, although many have left the country. Of the 4,500 white farmers that held farmland when the seizures began in 2000, only a few hundred remain.

“I am advising our members to be patient and give it time. But I do see many of them going back into farming,” said Peter Steyl, the vice president of The Commercial Farmers Union, which mainly represents white farmers. “The government seems serious about getting agriculture on track but how it is going to achieve this, I don’t know.”

After the seizures, the government was criticized for handing white farmers over to black Zimbabweans who knew little to nothing about farming. This led to poor crop yields, which both hurt the country's economy and the stomachs of its people. 

The government hopes that bringing back white farmers will bridge this expertise gap and that it will also attract foreign investment and decrease unemployment.

Local chief Peter Tandi advocated on Smart's behalf with the new government. Although Mugabe's seizures were meant to heal the wounds of colonialism, Tandi said that Smart never behaved like a privileged white overlord.

“He voluntarily gave up his estates to the community when the land reform program started," Tandi said. "He continued helping us with technical knowledge, equipment and other inputs.”

Another black Zimbabwean also vouched for Smart, and said he was on the right side of history. “That man supported the guerrillas during the war … he gave us a place to hide from colonial government soldiers,” Gift Maramba, a war veteran and local official said.

For their part, the Smarts are excited to once again work the land.

“We are part of one family," Darryn said. "We belong to the Tandi people. That’s why we are going to perform a traditional African ceremony before we start on production.”