SADC land ruling undermined by Zim constitution
By Alex Bell
24 July 2012
Zimbabwe’s commitment to the rule of law is facing serious questions since
the release of the country’s new draft constitution, which contains clauses
that undermine a key ruling by the regional human rights court.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal ruled in 2008
that Robert Mugabe’s land grab campaign was unlawful, in a landmark court
case that upheld the right of the Zimbabwe’s battered farming community to
seek redress.
The ruling slammed the land seizures as ‘inherently discriminatory’ and
against the standards and values of the SADC Treaty that Zimbabwe, as a
signatory to the Treaty, is party to.
The then ZANU PF government was ordered to compensate farmers in a ruling
that was meant to be internationally binding. The ruling was never honoured
and instead, the court was suspended by SADC leaders for a ‘review’. The
SADC leaders were criticised for appearing to side with Mugabe over human
rights and the rule of the law.
Justice is now set to be further delayed with Zimbabwe’s draft constitution
actively undermining the still suspended Tribunal’s ruling, by stating that
farmers will not be compensated and the government has no obligation to do
so. The draft toes the ZANU PF line that Britain is responsible for
compensating the farmers, because the land grab was “addressing the
imbalance of the colonial era.”
The charter also states that no one can challenge this refusal to pay
compensation in the country’s courts, while the state takeover of land
cannot be legally challenged on the grounds of ‘discrimination’. This kind
of takeover has been legalised, with the draft detailing that the government
can acquire land and take over title deeds with only a notice in the
Government Gazette serving as warning.
Former Chegutu farmer Ben Freeth, who led the legal challenge against Mugabe
at the Tribunal in 2008, told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that the land
clauses are “very worrying.”
“This is a harsh and draconian thing to write into the constitution and it
makes it even more simple for the state to seize the properties that are
left in Zimbabwe, Freeth said.
He added: “What is most concerning for me is the discriminatory basis that
this is being done on, which is a clear indication of where we are in the
country right now. Discrimination has essentially been written into the
constitution and signed by the democratic side of our government, the MDC.”
Freeth said the land clauses not only “endorse theft,” but also “go against
the principles of democracy that SADC is meant to adhere to.”
“I believe that we are now at crunch time in terms of the Zimbabwe’s future.
And it is yet to be determined if this is a future that includes respect of
property and human rights and the rule of law,” Freeth said.