Farmers to challenge High Court dismissal of SADC land ruling

 09 February 2010

 Zimbabwe’s commercial farmers are once again set to approach the human  rights court of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to  challenge the dismissal of a landmark SADC ruling on the land ‘reform’
 programme.

 In a ruling that came as a hard won victory for Zimbabwe’s commercial  farmers, the SADC Tribunal ruled in 2008 that Robert Mugabe’s land grab  campaign was illegal. But the government has ignored the Tribunal’s
 orders, eventually landing itself in contempt of court for not adhering to the SADC ruling. The government even openly snubbed the court by saying it was ‘no longer recognised in the country,’ despite Zimbabwe
 being a signatory to the SADC Treaty and therefore bound by SADC law to respect the court.

 The refusal to adhere to the ruling did not stop the farmers from trying to have it registered within the country’s courts, a move necessary to have the ruling enforced. But last month, High Court Judge Barack Patel
 dismissed efforts to have the ruling registered and further dismissed the ruling itself, saying it was a threat to ‘the greater good’ of Zimbabwe.

 The move has come as a shock to the country’s handful of remaining commercial farmers, many of whom are still fighting to keep their land from being taken over by ‘beneficiaries’ of Mugabe’s selective land
 reacquisition scheme. The farmers are now returning to the Tribunal to challenge the High Court’s move.

 The SADC Tribunal Registrar Charles Mkandawire told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that the court’s rulings are final and binding, but added the Tribunal does not have the power to enforce those rulings in Zimbabwe. He
 explained that the government’s decision to ‘pull out’ of the Tribunal was null and void, arguing that Zimbabwe is still a signed SADC member state.

 “As far as we are concerned Zimbabwe is still part of SADC and according to Article 16 of the SADC Treaty, the decision of the Tribunal is final and binding,” Mkandawire said.

 Mkandawire continued that the Tribunal, as an ‘impartial body’, can advise SADC heads of state how to deal with the matter, but said the “full machinations of the law in Zimbabwe must first be exhausted.”

 Meanwhile, as the ongoing seizures of farms under the guise of land ‘reform’

 continue, a new law published on Tuesday is set to further dissuade possible foreign investment. Any white owned company in Zimbabwe will be expected to hand over more than 50% of its shares to black Zimbabweans
 and the government, according to the draconian style law. The so-called ‘Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment’ regulations prescribe that by mid-April, all businesses have to submit a form detailing the racial
 make-up of their current shareholders to the government. Based on that declaration, the government will assess how much of the company’s shares had to be ‘ceded’ to ‘indigenous Zimbabweans.’