Zim planes, trains face seizure
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by John Chimunhu
Saturday, 04 December 2010 13:39
HARARE – Zimbabwean farmers have moved a step closer to seizing planes
belonging to the troubled state carrier Air Zimbabwe and trains owned by the
National Railways of Zimbabwe in their efforts to get compensation for farms
seized by President Robert Mugabe without compensation since 2000.
In claims registered recently in New York, the farmers have now been
empowered to attach planes, trains and any assets belonging to quasi-state
corporations which they can identify outside Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe flies planes to various destinations around the world and runs
trains into neighbouring countries.
“Every day we have a new writ. The farmers registered an order in New York
and they can attach any quasi-state asset owned by such organizations as NRZ
and Air Zimbabwe,” said Finance Minister Tendai Biti during a post-budget
meeting with members of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) last
Friday.
The farmers are also said to be identifying offshore financial assets owned
by Zimbabwean parastatals with the intention of seizing them.
This would make doing business virtually impossible for many state firms.
A South African court last month ruled that three commercial farmers and a
German bank owed money by the government could auction a building owned by
the Zimbabwe government in Cape Town.
The farmers and the German Bank had initially targeted to auction three
Zimbabwean properties but the South Gauteng High Court ruled that they could
only sale the one building in Kenilworth, Cape Town, because it was being
rented out to a third party for commercial gain and therefore no longer
enjoyed diplomatic protection.
Biti said other government buildings were only saved on the grounds of
sovereign immunity (diplomatic immunity). But the finance minister the only
way to resolve the problem was to pay compensation to the farmers for
properties they lost in Zimbabwe.
“We have to solve the issue of this debt,” the Minister said. However,
paying off the farmers may prove difficult as the bankrupt Harare government
owes billions to other lenders, including the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank.