Windhoek, Namibia - A tribunal of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) on Friday ordered the Zimbabwean
government to halt the eviction of 73 farmers in the second such
ruling by the regional court defending Zimbabwean farmers against
land grabs.
The court, which sits in the Namibian capital Windhoek, also
granted the 73 farmers and four others that have already been evicted
the right to have their cases heard in May together with the first
Zimbabwean farmer to appeal to the court to overturn his eviction
order.
The five-person tribunal ordered 'that the Republic of Zimbabwe
shall take no steps to evict from or interfere with peaceful
residence and beneficial use' of the farms by the farmers pending the
outcome of the mass hearing, set for May 28 in Windhoek.
'Although we're not satisfied with it, we will comply with it,'
Zimbabwe's deputy attorney general Prince Machaya told Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa after the ruling.
The SADC tribunal, established in 1992, is tasked with ensuring
that the bloc's 14 members respect the SADC treaty, which calls for
respect for the rule of law, among other things.
William Michael Campbell was the first white Zimbabwean farmer to
successfully apply to the court last year for an urgent interdict to
halt what he called the 'continued onslaught of invasions and
intimidation' on his farm near Harare pending a full hearing in
Zimbabwe on the legality of land seizures.
Campbell, one of only a few hundred white farmers still working
the land, had been facing criminal charges in Zimbabwe for refusing
to vacate his farm.
Zimbabwe's land reform programme has seen thousands of white-owned
farms invaded and seized by former liberation war veterans and ruling
party cronies since 2000. Few of the farmers have been compensated.
Other former European colonies in southern Africa have, so far,
steered clear of Zimbabwe's brand of land reform, which has resulted
in large-scale food shortages.
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