Zimbabwean farm hearing due tomorrow in Windhoek: considered a test case for the rule of law in the SADC region

Ben Freeth, shortly after he was assaulted by Zanu PF loyalists

The SADC Tribunal hearing is scheduled for Wednesday 16 July 2008

The application led by Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd (first applicant), William Michael Campbell (second applicant) and 77 Zimbabwean commercial farmers (the interveners) who face eviction from their farms will be heard by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal in Windhoek tomorrow.

The application is also brought on behalf of the thousands of farm workers and their families living on the farms.

The applicants and interveners are also seeking an urgent order declaring the Government of Zimbabwe in breach of the interim protection order granted in December by the Tribunal in favour of the applicants, and referring this breach to the SADC secretariat for measures to be taken.

To this application the legal team has attached factual proof of the evictions carried out with the sanction of the domestic courts in Zimbabwe.

It has also attached photographs of Mike Campbell (73), his wife Angela (66) and their son-in-law, Ben Freeth (38), in respect of their recent abduction and the violent assaults on their persons which resulted in substantial injuries. (See Sokwanele Action Alert post dated 30 June, and a follow-up with more images here. Their abductions and torture was related to this test case).

Mike Campbell’s broken finger

A further option is for the SADC Secretariat to refer the case to the General Assembly and or to the Security Council of the United Nations.

Once the Tribunal has considered and finalised the above case, it will immediately proceed to determine the main case.

The main case

This challenges the “land reform” programme of the Government of Zimbabwe as being in violation of the applicants’ rights as provided for in the SADC Treaty and Protocol.

Campbell’s application contends that the land acquisition process is racist and illegal under a number of legal instruments, notably the SADC treaty and the African Union Charter.

Article 6 of the SADC treaty states that “member states shall not discriminate against any person on the grounds of gender, religion, political views, race, ethnic origin, culture, ill-health or disability or such other grounds.”

The main case hearing was scheduled to take place on May 28 but it was postponed after the Zimbabwean government’s legal team missed the deadline, citing a “lack of manpower, financial and material constraints” as the reasons.

Background information to the case

The first hearing of the Campbell case took place on December 11, 2007. This launched the application for interim relief until such time as the Tribunal was able to hear the merits of the case.

On December 12, the SADC Tribunal granted an interim order in favour of Mike Campbell pending a final ruling on his application in 2008.

In response, Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Minister Didymus Mutasa said the Mugabe government would abide by the ruling.

However, on January 22, 2008 – after a delay of eight months – Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court dismissed the application by Campbell challenging the seizure of his farm.

The following day, Mutasa said the government was going ahead with plans to seize the farm, despite the Tribunal ruling which blocked confiscation of the property.

In his response, Registrar Justice Charles Mkandawiri of the SADC Tribunal said that if the Harare government did not comply with the ruling the Tribunal handed down, it would refer the matter to the highest level of the regional organisation.

The 77 interveners

The main hearing was due to start during the last week of January but was postponed to hear the joint application of a further 77 white commercial farmers.

They were permitted to join the case in March because they were suffering similar harassment and also faced eviction without compensation.

Furthermore, the farmers could not legally challenge the Government of Zimbabwe because Zimbabwean courts had been prohibited from hearing such cases.

The dates of March 25-28 were agreed for the main hearing. However, on March 5, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Attorney-General, Prince Machaya, requested a postponement for various reasons, including the upcoming March 29 elections and the government’s wish to file further papers.

This was agreed to by the Tribunal and only the intervention applications were heard on March 25.

Judge Luis Mondlane, President of the SADC Tribunal, ordered the Zimbabwean government to halt the eviction of 73 of the farmers and granted them and four others who had already been evicted from their properties the right to have their cases heard along with Campbell.

The judge said the cases would be held on May 28.

Mr Machaya said they were not satisfied with the ruling but would comply with the order.

As indicated earlier, the main case hearing scheduled for May 28 was again postponed after the Zimbabwean government’s legal team missed the deadline, citing a “lack of manpower, financial and material constraints” as the reasons.

A landmark test case

This is the first case to be brought before the Tribunal since it was set up in 2000, and is described as a test case for the rule of law in the SADC region.

The Tribunal was established through a protocol attached to the SADC treaty and is empowered to adjudicate disputes between member states as well as between individuals and member states.

Zimbabwe is a signatory to both the SADC treaty and the Tribunal – the documents were signed by Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

The food crisis escalates

On January 17, 2008 the UN’s Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) reported that widespread food insecurity would continue to affect 4.1 million Zimbabweans through the first harvests in March.

However, five months later the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) reported an even more serious situation.

In their crop assessment forecast released on June 18, the organisations said more than five million Zimbabweans would suffer food insecurity in the next nine months.

Independent analysts currently estimate the population to be as low as seven to eight million, which means that more than half of the population will face severe food shortages. Cases of kwashiorkor, a malnutrition-related disease, are rising significantly.

Prior to the farm invasions in 2000, Zimbabwe’s population was estimated at 12,5 million and the country was not only food secure but a significant exporter of top quality agricultural produce.

As a result of the collapse of healthcare in Zimbabwe, food shortages, poverty and economic chaos – unemployment is in excess of 85 percent – more than 3 500 people are conservatively estimated to die each week, a staggering 14 000 every month.

Since the March 29 election, and in the face of vicious retribution by agents of the Mugabe regime against those deemed to have worked for, or voted for the opposition, the death toll continues to rise.

This press release was received today

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