Farmer gets international relief

A Zimbabwean farmer, 75-year-old
Mike Campbell of Chegutu, has been given interim relief from land grabbers in the first-ever ruling made by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Tribunal in Namibia. The Tribunal barred the Zimbabwean government from interfering with Campbell’s farm, which he legally purchased in 1999, until the case’s main hearing, scheduled for 22 January. Campbell argued Zimbabwe’s constitutional changes violate the human rights protection advocated by a SADC treaty, of which President Robert Mugabe is a signatory. The tribunal should have heard the case on 20 November, but the hearing was postponed because the fax machine in Mugabe’s office was broken. – Annelie Coleman