CFU moratorium ruling set for month-end
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Vusimuzi Bhebhe
Friday, 10 September 2010 10:32
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court is expected to pass judgment at the end of
September on an application by the country’s beleaguered white farmers for a
moratorium on ongoing farm evictions and persecution of those refusing to
vacate properties targeted for compulsory acquisition.
The Commercial Farmers Union said the Supreme Court would make a ruling on
an application the union made earlier this year for order suspending further
punitive prosecutions and evictions of the few remaining productive farmers
in Zimbabwe until such time that President Robert Mugabe’s controversial
land reform programme has been properly examined and addressed more
transparently. “A hearing date has been set for 30 September 2010,” the
union said last week.
The CFU is seeking an order suspending ongoing prosecutions and criminal
proceedings against several of its members accused of allegedly contravening
Section 3(3) of the Gazetted Land Act by refusing to vacate farms illegally
occupied by Mugabe’s supporters. The union contends that the prosecutions
are “invalid and of no force” and violate the constitutional rights of the
farmers.
The Attorney General’s Office has in recent months stepped up prosecution of
white farmers it claims are refusing to vacate land acquired by the
government for purposes of redistribution to land less blacks. This is
despite the fact that the Southern African Development (SADC) Tribunal ruled
in 2008 that the government’s land reform programme is discriminatory and
illegal under the SADC Treaty to which Zimbabwe is signatory.
Hordes of Zanu (PF) supporters, so-called war veterans and members of the
army and police stepped up farm invasions almost immediately after the
formation of the inclusive government in February 2009. Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai has ordered the arrest and prosecution of the farm
invaders but his word is largely ignored with farmers reporting continuing
invasions of their properties and disruption of farming activities.
Western donors have – on top of other conditions – made it clear that they
would not consider giving aid to the Harare government while farm invasion
continue. Zimbabwe has since the start of the land reforms in 2000 relied on
food imports and handouts from international food agencies mainly due to
failure by resettled black peasants to maintain production on former white
farms.