White farmers attack judge
The Herald – 5 January 2010
HIGH COURT judge Justice Bharat Patel has come under attack from white commercial farmers for rejecting their application to register the SADC Tribunal ruling that sought to bar the State from acquiring land for resettlement purposes.
In an article carried by various online publications ex-commercial farmer Ben Freeth labeled Justice Patel a “Nazi”.
Freeth was writing in his capacity as the spokesperson of a group that calls itself Zimbabwe Tribunal Rights Watch and has been at the forefront of trying to reverse the revolutionary land reform programme.
The State acquired Freeth’s farm for resettlement under the programme that has seen nearly 300 000 families benefiting from land formerly held by just 4 000 white farmers.
Freeth wrote: “The judge, in his attempt to legalise a programme of ethnic cleansing, has joined the ranks of other judges under dictatorial regimes such as in Nazi Germany or Stalinist Soviet Union and left Zimbabweans more exposed than ever to further abuse by the Zimbabwe Government.
Last week Justice Patel passed a landmark ruling in which he upheld the importance of land reforms to the national interest.
He threw out a bid by white farmer to enforce a SADC Tribunal ruling that sought to reverse land acquisitions.
Justice Patel said the SADC Tribunal ruling went against Zimbabwe’s domestic laws and agrarian policies, adding that “the greater public good must prevail”.
Mr Gerald Mlotshwa, a lawyer who was involved in that case, has since written to the Law Society of Zimbabwe and Government saying Freeth’s conduct was in contempt of court.
The letter was copied to Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, Judge President Rita Makarau and lawyers Gollop and Blank.
He said Freeth’s statements fell outside the limits of reasonable courtesy in publicly critisising judges. “By effectively labeling Justice Patel a Nazi judge responsible for legalizing ethnic cleansing, Mr Freeth clearly intended to shake public and international confidence in the manner in which, justice is being administered by the High Court, and in particular the learned judge in Zimbabwe.
“The statement clearly scandalizes a judge of the High Court of Zimbabwe, and in my view amounts to contempt of court,” said Mr Mlotshwa.
He said the LSZ should publicly condemn the statement in the strongest possible terms.
“Inflammatory statements, mischievously invoking images of the Holocaust, and internationally calculated to tarnish the independence and integrity of a High Court judge must be challenged as a matter of principle.
He challenged the law society to take up the matter as the judge could not be expected to do it himself.
Freeth has been at the centre of efforts to stop all agrarian reforms.
His campaign culminated in a documentary full of falsehoods titled “Mugabe and the White African” that recently premiered in London.