In 1997, most of the fertile land continued to remain under the control of a few thousand white farmers. Most of the land that was redistributed, stayed in the hands of the black elites, and was not reachable for lower-classed Zimbabweans. During this time, the population of the lower-classed laborers in the tribal reserves grew. .
In 1998, international governments that had contributed to the financing of land reform, held a conference on improved government enforced acquisition of land. The governments involved adopted a set of principles to guide Phase II of the agrarian land reform in Zimbabwe. These principles incorporated respect for a legal process, reduction of poverty, more consistency and ensuring the affordability for acquisition and the allocation of the grants. The relationship between the Zimbabwean government and the contributing governments faced instability and the Zimbabwean government accused these governments of trying to maintain the distribution of the wealth. .
There has been increasing political and social tension in Zimbabwe in the past five years due to the land-distribution and its compensation. Growing pressures and the need for a planned land redistribution led by the National Land Identification Committee, would draft the Fast Track Land Reform Plan in June 2000, identifying tracks of land for redistribution. In July that same year, President Mugabe said that he would adopt the Fast Track Land Reform process in Zimbabwe. Under this Program the poor and landless were to be given priority in accessing. The small-scale commercial farms sector would be involved later in the program. It emphasized that minimal infrastructure would be put in place and government ministries and the army would be called on to help speed up the process of the resettlement and setting up of the infrastructure. The Fast Track consists of two different approaches. The first is to the poor from the population that is landless and the second is to have black commercial farmers.
