Ministers Clash Over Breach of Bilateral Agreements
Blessing Zulu
03.01.2013
WASHINGTON — The already rickety Zimbabwe government of national unity is
facing yet another divisive issue – how to react as international courts
rule that the government must pay millions of dollars to white farmers whose
lands are protected by Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection
Agreements (BIPPAs).
Cabinet sources say the Movement for Democratic Change wants the government
to stop seizing land or compensate the farmers. However, hardliners in Zanu
PF say there is no going back on the land reform program.
Lands Minister Herbert Murerwa says the cabinet has agreed not to occupy
farms protected by a BIPPA, but notes that others in his Zanu PF party think
no white or foreign-owned enterprise should be exempt.
A German, Heinrich Von Pezold, and other farmers are suing the government
for US$600 miillion.Von Pezold bought a forestry and sawmilling firm, Border
Timbers, which operated 5 forest estates and 3 sawmills.
He also had several tea estates in Manicaland Province, which were forcibly
taken by the government under the land reform scheme.
As Pezold’s purchases were protected by a BIPPA between Germany and Zimbabwe
signed in 1995, the take-over of the Von Pezold properties caused a
diplomatic row between the two countries.
Pezold’s case is now up for arbitration at the International Centre for
Settlement of Investment Disputes in Paris.
Attorney-General Johannes Tomana told VOA that the government is preparing
its defennce against Von Pezoild.
This will be the second time Zimbabwe has been dragged before the
International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
A group of 40 Dutch farmers, whose properties were protected by a bilateral
agreement, successfully appealed to the international body in April 2009.
The Dutch were awarded a total of US$25 million.
The government was ordered to pay this within 90 days. Three and a half
years later, the award remains unpaid and interest on the settlement has
been accruing.
Zimbabwe said recently it would settle the debt, but the finance minister
says there is no money.
Chief economist Prosper Chitambara of the Labour and Economic Development
Research Institute of Zimbabwe says failure to respect bilateral agreements
is another obstacle to economic recovery.