Pretoria High Court ruling recognises Zimbabwe land grab racist and illegal

Posted by ZDN on February 25, 2010

In the Pretoria High Court today Judge Garth Rabie has ruled in favour of Zimbabweans farmers whose land has been seized by the Zimbabwe government confirming that the land grab exercise was both racist and illegal.

The case, brought on behalf of the applicants, Louis Fick, Michael Campbell and Thomas Etheredge by South African human rights organisation Afriforum sought to have the ruling by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal against Zimbabwe’s land reform programme registered, paving the way for the seizure of government assets.

In 2008 the SADC tribunal upheld the claims of 79 landowners and held that that the seizure of land by the Government of Zimbabwe was arbitrary, racially discriminatory and contrary to the rule of law.

At the time President Robert Mugabe and his Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa rejected the SADC Tribunal rulings as not binding on Zimbabwe.

A further blow was dealt in January when in Zimbabwe’s High Court Justice Barack Patel dismissed the finding by the SADC tribunal which had ruled that Robert Mugabe’s land grab campaign was unlawful.

This latest judgement confirms the original SADC Tribunal ruling and opens the door to the seizure of Zimbabwe government assets by way of compensation for affected farmers.

Over 4500 white farmers will now have some recourse to justice as to date there has been no compensation paid for improvements to the land such as dwellings and other infrastructure despite promises made by the government of Zimbabwe.

It is also hoped that the latest ruling will halt the continued farm invasions and human rights abuses which are still taking place.