Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe

Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe

***The views expressed in the articles published on this website DO NOT necessarily express the views of the Commercial Farmers' Union.***

Zim files ‘urgent’ appeal against landmark SA farm ruling

Zim files ‘urgent’ appeal against landmark SA farm ruling

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
18 October 2012

Zimbabwe’s government has filed an urgent appeal, against a landmark legal 
decision in South Africa that upholds the regional ruling declaring Robert 
Mugabe’s land grab unlawful.

Attorney General Johannes Tomana told the state ZBC that the government had 
filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court of South Africa, to stop the 
sale of Zimbabwean properties there.

“We have filed papers to challenge the ruling at the North Gauteng court 
that gives powers to attach and sell property in Cape Town,” said Tomana.

He said the ruling to confiscate properties was based on a ruling of the 
still suspended Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal and 
therefore the South African court ruling had no legal basis.

The case at the High Court stemmed from the SADC Tribunal’s 2008 ruling that 
the land grab in Zimbabwe was unlawful, which the Zim government has 
ignored. The court was then suspended in 2010 by SADC leaders who refused to 
take action against Zimbabwe for its contempt of the court.

This forced Zimbabwean commercial farmers and South African citizens Louis 
Fick, Mike Campbell and Richard Etheredge to seek legal recourse in South 
Africa, because Zimbabwe had refused to compensate them for the loss of 
their land. The South African High Court in 2010 ruled in favour of the 
farmers, enforcing the Tribunal ruling and recognising the court’s 
jurisdiction. The Court also ruled that a Cape Town property owned by the 
Zim government should be ‘attached’ for auction, to cover the government’s 
debt to the farmers.

The Zim government then appealed this decision at the South Africa Supreme 
Court of Appeal, which last month dismissed the appeal. This has been 
described as a landmark legal decision and a positive development for the 
rule of law in Southern Africa.

The fresh appeal at the Constitutional Court however now means that justice 
for the farmers is further delayed. There is also still no word on the fate 
of the SADC Tribunal, with SADC leaders still making no commitments to fully 
reinstating it. 

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