SADC TRIBUNAL: Namibia’s President In Limbo Over Zimbabwe Rulings
WINDHOEK – President Hifikepunye Pohamba is expected to take over the chairmanship of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in seven months’ time and faces the challenge of compelling Zimbabwe to implement the tribunal’s order on land acquisition.
SADC Tribunal in Windhoek, Namibia: PIC TAWANDA KANHEMA
The Zimbabwe High Court ruled last week that it would not bow to an order of the SADC Tribunal barring the acquisition of land owned by 79 white farmers.
New Era has it on good authority that the tribunal has written to the SADC Summit, the highest decision-making body that comprises all SADC Heads of State, to act on Zimbabwe’s defiance to implement the tribunal’s 2008 interim and final orders barring acquisitions of white-owned land in that country.
In his much-awaited judgment last week, Zimbabwean High Court judge, Justice Bharat Patel, said his court would not implement the tribunal’s ruling, which would have barred the State from acquiring further land, mostly owned by Zimbabwe’s white farmers, for resettlement purposes.
Patel reasoned in his judgment that the tribunal’s ruling would be against Zimbabwe’s domestic laws and agrarian policies, while it also ignores the greater public good that accompanies the acquisition of land.
The registrar of the Windhoek-based tribunal, Justice Charles Mkandawire, told New Era that a submission has already been forwarded to the summit for consideration, regarding any step that SADC might take in reaction to Zimbabwe’s reluctance to implement the tribunal’s ruling.
“The summit will have to decide on what step to take, if any. We’re waiting for their direction. As a tribunal, our powers end with the judgment,” Mkandawire said.
Any decision by the summit would likely only be made known in August when the annual summit meeting, slated for Windhoek takes place.
That meeting would also see Namibia, or specifically Pohamba, take over the reins of the SADC chairmanship. Pohamba is currently deputy chairman of SADC, with Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) being chairman.
This year’s summit meeting would also, in all likelihood, task the new leaders to ensure that whatever decision it has taken on Zimbabwe must be implemented within a set period before the 2011 summit meeting.
Sources in Zimbabwe say the aggrieved farmers may seek recourse through the country’s Supreme Court in order to win an order asking the High Court to set aside last week’s judgment and implement the tribunal’s ruling.
The 79 white Zimbabwean commercial farmers approached the tribunal in search for an interdict that would prevent government, through its compulsory land acquisition programme, from laying its hands on their farms.
In 2008, the farmers won in Windhoek when the tribunal ruled in their favour in this regard, but their joy was short-lived after Zimbabwe went on record to say it would not bow in to the tribunal’s order. NEW ERA
Short URL: http://investigativezim.com/?p=2456
Posted by Investigative Africa
on Feb 3 2010. Filed under FEATURED STORIES & BLOGS, NEWS, ZIMBABWE.
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