SADC lawyers ask regional heads to warn Zim on land ruling
August 6, 2010
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Lawyers Association urged
regional heads of state to condemn Zimbabwe’s snubbing of a ruling ordering
it to compensate farmers who had their land taken from them during
Zimbabwe’s land redistribution programme.
“Continued silence on the actions of the Zimbabwean authorities will only
help to play in the hands of sceptics who doubt the ability of the regional
leaders to deal effectively with the Government of Zimbabwe and its
leaders,” a statement read on Friday.
They said that when the leaders gather at the forthcoming SADC summit to be
held from August 16 to 18 they should take a principled stand on the matter
by condemning the Zimbabwe government.
The SADC tribunal has ruled that over 70 farmers be compensated, but the
Zimbabwe government has ignored the order, as well as warnings that it is in
contempt of court by doing so.
The association said that a warning to Zimbabwe would be in the interest of
regional cohesion and integrity.
They said the SADC leaders had been firm with the unelected government of
Andri Rajolina of Madagascar.
“It is however sad to note that the SADC heads of state and government have
continued to give the government of Zimbabwe special treatment and turn a
blind eye to its continued disregard of the rule of law and lack of respect
for regional institutions.”
This made Zimbabwe bold enough to “trash” the jurisdiction of the SADC
tribunal.
On July 16 this year, the tribunal issued another ruling that Zimbabwe was
in contempt of court, but Zimbabwe’s justice minister Patrick Chinamasa
stated that the Tribunal “could make as many such judgments as possible” but
this would not change the government’s stance on the land issue.
“Clearly therefore, the Government of Zimbabwe is not going to abide by the
Tribunal rulings on its own free will.”
The General Council of the Bar (GCB) in South Africa said it was “profoundly
disturbed” by the Zimbabwe government’s stance.
“The GCB accordingly calls upon all concerned, and particularly the
Government of Zimbabwe, to ensure compliance with international law in the
region and that the rule of law is effectively applied and not
disregarded.” – Sapa