Zim High Court turns its back on farmers

White farmers in Zimbabwe have been dealt another blow, as the country’s High Court turned down an application to formally register and recognise the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal ruling which declared expropriation of white farms for land reform illegal.
David Drury, legal representative for more than 77 farmers said the court turned down the application, saying the “matter was not urgent”.
Drury feels the entire region is letting Zimbabwe’s farmers down with its focus on brokering a power-sharing deal between Zanu-PF and the MDC, while the country’s food providers are denied justice.
This comes a week after news broke that the South African government’s R300 million bail-out package never reached farmers, instead lining the pockets of senior Zanu-PF officials, including eight parliamentarians who re-sold free inputs or hired farmers to farm on their behalf.
South Africa is widely accused of having failed in its role as regional leader by sidestepping the SADC agreement to withhold aid until structures are in place to distribute it to intended beneficiaries, and failing to take a stand on the Mugabe government’s defiance of the tribunal.
US President Barack Obama recently called on SADC chairperson President Kgalema Motlanthe and South Africa as the region’s leader to be tougher on Zimbabwe, but action is yet to be seen, and whether Zimbabwe’s farmers will ever see justice is uncertain.
Didymus Mutasa, Zimbabwe minister of state for national security, lands, land reform and resettlement, recently told the state newspaper The Herald the tribunal was “daydreaming” if it thought the government would reverse land reform.
“There’s nothing special about the 75 farmers and we will take more farms,” said Mutasa. “It’s not discrimination, but correcting land imbalances.”
To date neither the South African government nor Motlanthe have responded to Mutasa’s statements or bothered to clarify the fate of the R300 million in aid. – Peter Mashala