Posted on 12/05/2001 12:08:25 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's top court has declared the government's plan to seize white-owned farms legal, overturning its own previous ruling that the seizures were unconstitutional.
In a judgment released Tuesday, four of the five Supreme Court justices appointed to hear the new seizure case said they were satisfied the government's "fast track" land nationalization program was lawful and "sufficiently complied" with the constitution.
Last year's Supreme Court ruling declared the government's methods of land seizures illegal and in breach of constitutional ownership rights and government land laws.
Some of the judges who made that ruling have been replaced in recent months.
Four of the five judges hearing the new case, including Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, were appointed recently by President Robert Mugabe. Those four voted to uphold the government's land seizure program.
The Supreme Court traditionally had only five judges until Mugabe expanded the bench to eight in July, adding three judges considered loyal to the ruling party. The chief justice usually appoints small panels of judges to hear each case.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has described the court's expansion as a political ploy designed to turn the court into a government puppet.
Armed ruling party militants have occupied more than 1,700 white-owned farms since March 2000, demanding they be redistributed to landless blacks. The government has listed some 4,500 properties -- about 95 percent of farm land owned by whites -- for nationalization without compensation and last month warned about 800 farmers they had three months to vacate their land and homes.
Monday's court ruling rejected white farmers' assertions that the land seizures were taking place amid violence and a breakdown of law and order in farming districts.
It said the government had met the previous court's order to prove it had restored law and order and a sustainable land reform program in those districts.
Though it was not disputed that clashes took place on farms, "by definition, the concept of rule of law foresees a situation in which behavior prescribed as criminal will occur. The presence of the rule of law does not mean a totally crime free environment," the court said.
Adrian de Bourbon, the lawyer for the Commercial Farmers Union, had asked Chidyausiku and two other new appointees to recuse themselves from the hearing, alleging they had shown open allegiance to the ruling party and its land seizures.
None of the judges stepped down.
Monday's ruling described de Bourbon's request as "unbridled arrogance and insolence."
"This is the first and last time such contempt of this court will go unpunished," it said.
A spokesman for the union said farmers were surprised and disappointed by the decision.
"The ruling does not seem to be based on the strict application of the law or the rules of natural justice, but on a political argument," the spokesman said.
"We are obviously surprised and shocked by this because this is the highest court. But we hope the government will still find the wisdom to be reasonable," he said.
Judges have been under mounting pressure from the government and ruling party militants. Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay was forced out after the government warned him and other judges they would not be protected from ruling party militants, who stormed the Supreme Court last December.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said Ephraim Taba was abducted Feb. 16 near the ruling party stronghold of Mutoko, 140 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of Harare.
Witnesses reported Taba being assaulted and reported his disappearance to police, said Lovemore Matombo, the federation's president. He has not been found.
The independent Human Rights Forum, an umbrella group of 11 church and rights groups, said in a report released Thursday that it was compiling witness information on at least 72 ruling party militia bases - known as "re-education camps" - across the country.
A return to law and order "must entail the disbanding of the youth and other militia and the immediate closure of the so-called re-education camps used by such militia," Matombo said.
The report said 26 people had died in political violence in the first 23 days of February, 16 opposition supporters, five members of the ruling party and six people whose affiliation was unknown.
The federation has protested to the government over "widespread violence and intimidation by organized state-sponsored forces targeted mostly at members of the opposition and civil society" including labor groups, Matombo said.
The government says labor groups support the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, whose leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, used to lead the federation. The labor group represents 90 percent of organized labor, and affiliated civic groups. [End Excerpt]
From 1948-1994 , there were 21,000 murders in RSA.
From 1994-2001 ( and not ALL murders are reported / listed ) 176,000 murders were recorded.
The idiot Liberals , who foisted Mandela, the ANC, and now Thabo Mbeki , on South Africa, don't care. The outrageous propaganda continues , and the coverup, is disgusting !
Thank you, for adding to FR's " truth squadron ".
The same thing that was done to Patrice Lumumba.
The population uptrend will only continue until they exhaust the food supply, at which point things will collapse. And I don't think that, after the Somalia debacle, US food aid will be easily gotten
Within 10 years, sub-Sahara Africa will be starving, ungovernable chaos -- ripe for invasion by any country with large amounts of disciplined manpower and unconcerned by what "world public opinion" might think. Like China
Look for China to examine opportunities. Africa, particularly southern Africa, still has vast mineral wealth that can be taken by somebody willing to go in and take it, and ruthless enough to kill anyone isn't an asset to their plans.
But don't expect them to care about black Africans -- the Chinese have more than enough manpower. The may decide that the Africans are an unwelcome annoyance.
In effect Gadaafi seems to be making a bid to save Mugabe which, if successful, would create a virtual Libyan client state at the far end of Africa. Already there is evidence of direct Libyan involvement in the violence which racked Zimbabwean farms in the last ten days.
Relations between Mugabe and Gadaafi have been warm for some time but it is only in the last year, as Zimbabwe's shortage of foreign exchange has caused repeated fuel cut-offs that Mugabe has several times flown to Tripoli to plead with Gadaafi for deliveries on credit. Gadaafi, who has despaired of his efforts to play a leadership role in the Arab world, has begun to use his financial muscle to make interventions right across black Africa where he has made Zimbabwe a special case, advancing Mugabe a loan of $100 million. [End Excerpt]
Do you still think we should just stand back and watch Africa go to criminal strong men?
The perils of designer tribalism (long but filled with truth)
But officials said Malaysia was happy with the outcome, describing the recommendations as "logical." Malaysia has opposed taking steps against Zimbabwe until after the poll.
Commonwealth membership runs the gamut from rich, industrialized nations like Britain and Australia to some of the world's poorest, such as tiny Pacific islands.
It has been unable to agree on Zimbabwe before and inaction now -- as the clock ticks down to a general election the United States Thursday said it did not believe would be "untainted" -- could again raise questions about its relevance.
But McKinnon dismissed suggestions that failing to act would undermine the credibility of the Commonwealth which prides itself on being the moral guardian of its member nations.
"I don't believe this will be our obituary," he said.
The United States said the election may prove to be the most critical moment in Zimbabwe's history since independence from Britain in 1980.
"It could be the moment at which Zimbabwe's potential as a beacon of freedom on a troubled continent is affirmed, or the moment at which Zimbabwe's leadership decides to fully embrace the dictates of despotism," Walter Kansteiner, the top State Department official for Africa, told congressmen in Washington. [End Excerpt]
Zimbabwe farmers flee, start over[Excerpt] Zimbabwe, once one of Southern Africa's most stable and prosperous countries, has been engulfed by violence since early 2000. President Robert Mugabe, in a bid to garner popular support in the country's parliamentary elections, began backing bands of squatters who invaded white-owned farms, driving off or even killing the farmers and their families. The invasions crippled the agricultural sector and led to widespread hunger and hyperinflation……….
Many of the new farmers say they will return to Zimbabwe if the opposition MDC wins the election and ends the government's land seizure program. But few hold out much hope that the MDC will be allowed to win, regardless of what the people say at the polls on March 9 and 10.
Before long, some predicted, the countryside of Zimbabwe will look like that of Mozambique, with the ruins of scattered farmhouses as the only testament to the flourishing commercial agriculture that once thrived there.
"I have no doubt that if things go on as they are, my farmhouse in Zimbabwe will be roofless in six months," says the MDC supporter. "The country will disintegrate into nothing within a year." [End Excerpt]
The problem with Africa seems to revolve around the presence of all those Africans
What I mean by that, is that democracy seems incompatible with the current African culture. Conquering and ruling them is incompatible with American culture. So they're out of luck.
At least a criminal strong man will keep the inter-group violence down, and keep the subject people alive, if only to maintain his own profit margins
In his comments on Wednesday, Blair accused Mugabe of acting like a dictator and said Britain would push for action against him at a Commonwealth summit this weekend. [Excerpt]
He isn't acting.
Venezuela at least has some history of half-way reasonable self-rule by the people there since they attained independence from Spain in 1830. Yes, they've had periods of military dictatorship, but the people have mostly managed to keep themselves fed, and you don't hear of mass starvation (like Somalia, Nigeria (Biafran Independence attempt), and Ethiopia) or episodes of mass killing (Rwandan massacres)
Their current situation is caused by a raving Marxist having been installed thru his having the most votes in a three-way race (something like how we got Clinton in his first term)
[Excerpt] Ebrahim is a Zimbabwean of Indian descent and was the last non-black judge in the Supreme Court.
The judiciary has been under growing pressure by the government to issue rulings in its favor and government officials described the decision Ebrahim oversaw as ``a rotten fish''.
Justice ministry officials said Ebrahim submitted a letter of resignation stating he would be taking leave before retiring from the court in May.
Ebrahim is the fifth senior judge to quit in the past year.
Among senior judges to have left the bench recently is former Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay. He was forced to take early retirement last July after the government warned him and other judges they would not be protected from ruling party militants, who stormed the Supreme Court in December 2000, shouting, ``Kill the judges!''
The Supreme Court under Gubbay had declared the government-sanctioned seizure of white-owned farms illegal. The court was accused by militants of bias in favor of white landowners.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court struck down the General Laws Amendment Act, passed by the ruling party in January.
The ruling said the act was improperly pushed through Parliament and violated constitutional and voters rights. It nullified sweeping powers given to state electoral officials and restrictions on election observers and party polling agents.
It also overruled an amendment giving the state sole power to appoint local election monitors and allowed church and other independent groups to deploy monitors at voting and counting stations.
Last year, the government expanded the Supreme Court bench from five to eight judges, in an apparent bid to pack the highest court in the country with sympathetic judges.
Gubbay's successor, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, has been accused of openly supporting ruling party policies. [End Excerpt]
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