State to pay Von Abo R89 million

The Constitutional Court recently confirmed the South African government must compensate Free State farmer Crawford von Abo for losses he suffered under the land grabs in Zimbabwe, because it didn’t provide diplomatic protection.
Despite repeated pleas to President Mbeki’s government as early as 2002, Von Abo had received no compensation for his millions of rand’s worth of losses and was afforded no diplomatic protection from the South African government.
He eventually took government, Mbeki, the ministers of foreign affairs, trade and industry and justice and constitutional development to court, on the basis that protection was his constitutional right. He subsequently won in the Pretoria High Court and asked the Constitutional Court to confirm this.
The Constitutional Court recently ruled it wouldn’t make a confirmation ruling on government’s conduct because government was trying to comply with the obligations of the High Court ruling.
The Constitutional Court judges ruled that the case was erroneously referred to them. This meant that the High Court ruling remained in place and President Jacob Zuma and his government were compelled to abide by it.
This also meant the South African government had 60 days to remedy Von Abo’s losses, amounting to an estimated US million (over R89 million).
The Constitutional Court judges furthermore declined to confirm an order that would’ve made Zuma responsible in his capacity as president for Von Abo’s losses. The judges felt “that in essence, diplomatic protection was the responsibility of the government as a whole, and not of the presidency alone.” – Annelie Coleman