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.
Two shots were fired by a police surveillance team trailing the convoy, MDC spokesman Learnmore Jongwe told IRIN. No one was injured in the attack.
The incident followed an earlier use of teargas by the police on an impromptu crowd that had gathered when Tsvangirai stopped for a lunch break on his way to Maringe village, 70 km from Masvingo. [End Excerpt]
Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Reports to Police--[Excerpt] Tension in the southern Africa country is rising rapidly, with the opposition accusing Mugabe's supporters of violent intimidation and the United States and European Union clamping personal sanctions against the president and his inner circle.
Foreign correspondents and election observers saw hundreds of government supporters ambush MDC militants Sunday after Tsvangirai addressed a rally in Mugabe's home town of Chinhoyi.
The leader of the southern African regional observer mission, which includes members from Zimbabwe's neighbors, said a car carrying some of his team was hit but no one was injured.
The incidents capped a week in which police shot at Tsvangirai's campaign convoy, militants attacked an opposition office and self-styled liberation war veterans forced a white farmer and his family to flee their farm. [End Excerpt]
............. Over the weekend, groups of election observers from two southern African groups were stoned by rowdy supporters of Mr. Mugabe.
"We thought we would deploy our people throughout the country by Wednesday, but we have decided to delay," said Duke Lefhoko, leader of the southern African observer mission. "We've got to know if the government is committed to allowing us to do our jobs. We want to ensure the safety of our people." [End Excerpt]
Speaking in the House of Commons, Blair condemned Mugabe's government for charging key opposition leaders in Zimbabwe with treason, calling the president's behavior "undemocratic, wrong and dictatorial."
Mugabe, the country's only president since Zimbabwe won independence from British rule in 1980, faces one of his most difficult challenges during the presidential elections on March 9 and 10.
If the vote goes against Mugabe, Blair said, "We must be in a position to make sure that the properly, democratically elected government of Zimbabwe is supported." [End Excerpt]
But, what is Tony going to do, should Mugabe win, through his usual underhanded way ?
A week before a presidential election that domestic and foreign critics accuse Mugabe of trying to win by intimidation, his government did say it would respect a court ruling that overturned a law barring many Zimbabweans from voting.
The veteran president also told a senior delegation from regional power South Africa, which is increasingly worried about instability in Zimbabwe, that his main rival had not been charged with treason, contrary to earlier police statements.
Former colonial ruler Britain, accusing Mugabe of fostering violence in the campaign for the March 9-10 election, hopes to persuade other Commonwealth countries to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe when their leaders meet in Australia this weekend. [End Excerpt]
You are so right...two years ago I was working in eastern Africa with a lot of South Africans, (Safricans) and they laughed at the press coverage of Zimbabwe farm murders. They were always talking about the huge number of Safrican farmers who have been murdered under both Mandela and Mbeki.
All of Africa is an argument for a return to colonialism.
The colonial "white man's burden" argument doesn't have much appeal, anymore.
I'm sure he'll have a good worm recipe.
[Excerpt] Afghanistan needs not just food parcels, but British courts and Canadian police and Indian civil servants and U.S. town clerks and Australian newspapers. So does much of the rest of the region. Given the billions of dollars of damage done to the world economy by September 11th, massive engagement in the region will be cheaper than the alternative.
America has prided itself on being the first non-imperial superpower, but the viability of that strategy was demolished on September 11th. For its own security, it needs to do what it did to Japan and Germany after the war: civilize them. It needs to take up (in Kipling's words), "the white man's burden," a phrase that will have to be modified in the age of Colin Powell and Condi Rice but whose spirit is generous and admirable.[End Excerpt]
And politicians run when he screams, "Racist!"
Mark Steyn-- What the Afghans need is colonizing [Excerpt] Afghanistan needs not just food parcels, but British courts and Canadian police and Indian civil servants and U.S. town clerks and Australian newspapers. So does much of the rest of the region. Given the billions of dollars of damage done to the world economy by September 11th, massive engagement in the region will be cheaper than the alternative.
America has prided itself on being the first non-imperial superpower, but the viability of that strategy was demolished on September 11th. For its own security, it needs to do what it did to Japan and Germany after the war: civilize them. It needs to take up (in Kipling's words), "the white man's burden," a phrase that will have to be modified in the age of Colin Powell and Condi Rice but whose spirit is generous and admirable.[End Excerpt]
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