Zim Farmers To Seek Justice At International Courts
2 hours 37 minutes ago
Bulawayo, June 02, 2011 – Zimbabwe white commercial farmers will seek
justice at the international courts following the suspension of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal which always ruled in their
favour over farm disputes with the government.
A recent SADC summit held in Windhoek, Namibia, suspended the Tribunal by a
year arguing that it was not properly constituted.
The move dealt a severe blow to the white commercial farmers fighting the
Zimbabwe government at the regional court over their eviction from their
farms.
But Deon Theron, the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) president told
Radio VOP that the white commercial farmers will for now seek justice at the
international courts, pending the lifting of a one year suspension of the
SADC Tribunal.
“We have no option but to turn to the international courts to seek justice
since the SADC Tribunal has been suspended. We are not deterred and we will
continue with the legal battles against the Zimbabwe government elsewhere,”
Theron said in an interview.
The SADC Tribunal raised hope among white commercial farmers that their
grabbed farms will be returned back to them after the regional court’s
rulings.
Farmers had also hoped that the Tribunal would put an end to the continuing
farm invasions.
However, Zimbabwe had always argued that the tribunal’s verdict did not
apply to the country.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa insisted that Zimbabwe would no longer
participate in further hearings at the Windhoek-based regional court, saying
that the country was not bound by the court’s decisions.
The Tribunal in November 2008 ruled in favour of 78 white farmers who were
challenging President Robert Mugabe’s land reform programme on the grounds
that it discriminated against them on the basis of the colour of their
skins.