ConCourt rules in favour of Mike Campbell & Co. – AfriForum
Willie Spies
27 June 2013
Willie Spies says Zimbabwean govt’s appeal dismissed, will now be possible
to proceed with the legal sale of property
Constitutional Court rules against Zimbabwe on land grabs
The Constitutional Court today dismissed an appeal by die Zimbabwean
Government against an earlier ruling of the Supreme Court of Appeal in
Bloemfontein in favour of the late Mr Mike Campbell and 77 other Zimbabwean
farmers regarding Robert Mugabe’s illegal and racist land reform plan. The
court also ordered the Zimbabwean Government to pay the farmers’ costs. The
farmers were supported in this endeavour by the civil rights organisation
AfriForum.
In the judgement of the Constitutional Court, delivered by Chief Justice
Mogoeng Mogoeng, common law was developed to give recognition to the
registration and enforcement of the rulings on human rights by international
courts. The matter was initially heard on 28 February by the Constitutional
Court. Today’s ruling was unanimous, with only one difference of emphasis
regarding a legal point in the reasons for the ruling by Judge Zondo.
Last year the Supreme Court of Appeal also dismissed with costs the appeal
of the Zimbabwean Government against an earlier ruling of the Pretoria High
Court confirming the registration and enforcement of the judgement of the
SADC Tribunal in favour of the Zimbabwean farmers.
The process started when a Zimbabwean farmer, Mr Mike Campbell succeeded in
2008 with an action against the Zimbabwean Government before the SADC
Tribunal in Windhoek. The Tribunal, which consisted of five judges from
various Southern African states, ruled in November 2008 that the Zimbabwean
land reform process was illegal and racist, and that Mr Campbell and the
other 77 farmers who became involved in the process should either be left
alone or be compensated for the expropriation of their assets.
The elderly Mr Mike Campbell, his wife, Angela, and his son-in-law, Ben
Freeth, were brutally assaulted and intimidated by war veterans in the
run-up to the hearing in an effort to discourage them from appearing before
the Tribunal. The case did proceed and Campbell eventually succeeded, but
the severity of his injuries caused his health to deteriorate and he died in
April 2011.
AfriForum supported the Zimbabwean farmers in a legal process which led to
the registration of the ruling by the Tribunal in a South African court and
the confiscation of a property in Kenilworth, Cape Town belonging to the
Zimbabwean Government in order to offset the punitive cost order handed down
by the Tribunal.
The dismissal of the appeal by the Zimbabwean Government means that, for the
first time in international legal history, it will be possible to proceed
with the legal sale of a property belonging to a state found guilty of gross
human rights violations.
Statement issued by Willie Spies, Legal Representative, AfriForum, June 27
2013