AG to challenge court on assets
AG moves to stop auction of Cape properties, claiming Gauteng judge’s ruling
was ‘null and void’
Jun 11, 2011 3:19 PM | By HARARE CORRESPONDENT
Zimbabwe’s Attorney-General (AG) says he will appeal the North Gauteng High
Court ruling that went in favour of three Zimbabwean farmers in the case
dealing with the seizure of Zimbabwean assets in South Africa.
Johannes Tomana, the AG, said the ruling on Monday was null and void, adding
it was based on the judgment of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) Tribunal that he said had been disbanded.
“We will not accept that judgment and we are going to appeal against it,”
said Tomana. The SADC Tribunal was suspended at the last SADC summit held in
Namibia last month, allegedly at the behest of President Robert Mugabe after
it passed land judgments unfavourable to him and his strategy to seize land
from white farmers.
The case in which the Pretoria court ruled in favour of the white farmers
concerned an application brought by the Zimbabwean government last year to
reverse the seizure of Zimbabwean assets in Cape Town by farmers who were
assisted by AfriForum. The legal battle started after the tribunal had ruled
in November 2008 that Zimbabwe’s land-reform processes had been racist and
illegal and that farmers ought to have been compensated for their farms.
The protocol makes provision for the enforcement of tribunal orders in SADC
member countries. Based on this protocol, AfriForum assisted three farmers,
Louis Fick, Richard Etheredge and the late Mike Campbell, in having the
ruling registered at the court.
The farmers then seized three properties that were no longer used for
Zimbabwean diplomatic purposes. In July last year, the Zimbabwean government
instituted court applications to have the seizure of its properties
reversed.
AfriForum’s legal representative, Willie Spies, said the door was now open
for the sale of the properties in Cape Town.
“The ruling is of historic significance. For probably the first time in
international legal history, a court has ruled that the assets of a country
guilty of human rights violations must be sold at public auction,” Spies
said. “Arrangements will be made without delay to have the properties sold
at public auction.”
Meanwhile, an 87-year-old farmer from Gweru, who is a South African
citizen, will be sentenced tomorrow after he was arrested for not leaving
his farm voluntarily.
If Philip Hapelt is found guilty, his sentence could include two years in
prison. Several calls to the department of international relations in
Pretoria and the South African embassy in Harare by his family to request
humanitarian assistance, were unsuccessful.
AfriForum is considering taking legal action against the South African
government in this regard.