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.
Tsvangirai, alleges that the March 9-11 presidential election was rigged by Mugabe, said the government had to restore its legitimacy. He said: "I'm suggesting that the best way is for the two parties to negotiate. The whole negotiation process should lead to a restoration of legitimacy in a government that is not legitimate.
"As far as we are convinced, a re-election is the only option out of that stalemate. In fact we are being magnanimous, there is no reason why we should negotiate with people who have stolen an election, but this is the only way we can see the country moving forward.
"The country is in dire need of food and all these other measures so let's see how it transpires."
He said presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, who met Mugabe for talks Monday, had offered to lead the negotiations without conditions. [End]
The rapid-fire statements last week from the US and UK, calling the election fraudulent, are a turning point. There was no waiting for an SA statement, despite all the major powers' frequent comments that they take a cue on regional issues from Pretoria and see SA as having a stabilising role in the region. SA's call for a government of national unity is a nonstarter as an end in itself, while the days of pondering a response to the results have simply shown indecision and a reluctance to face facts. The election was a betrayal of Zimbabweans, some of whom fruitlessly spent up to 70 hours in queues in an attempt to vote. The SA government's stance cannot but make it deeply unpopular with many Zimbabweans. SA food aid to Zimbabwe will not redeem our popularity.
If the reason for SA's pondering and "quiet diplomacy" is that it fears a political fallout from taking the same side as the UK's Tony Blair and the US's George Bush because of the potential "colonial" connotations, then it has misjudged the environment. In SA the radio talk shows indicate a concern about democracy across the racial spectrum.
In the face of such flagrant violations of basic democratic tenets, the major powers were left without an option other than to speak their minds about the election. Any moaning about attempts to exercise new colonial authority should be treated as an attempt to defend dictatorial rule in this case. [End Excerpt]
African leaders in a Commonwealth committee meeting in London were forced to distance themselves from Mr Mugabe's tainted election "victory".
It was a surprising and serious reverse for Mr Mugabe, who had tried to play off "white" countries against "black" states.
……………… The Commonwealth decision shows all the signs of an uncomfortable compromise. Mr Howard refused to say whether he, or the leaders of South Africa and Nigeria, considered Mr Mugabe to be the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe. [End Excerpt]
At an international donors conference in 1998, the CFU agreed to sell back 2.5 million acres of land with another 12.4 million to follow in a phased plan. But international funding dried up after donor money was instead lavished on Mugabe's cronies. Restless for a share of the land, the war veterans launched farm invasions in 2000.
"I very much doubt that there is a single farmer in this country who does not agree that there is a need for land reform - and if there is, they don't belong here," says Mr. Goosen. "But let's do it properly. The money was available, the farmers were in agreement, the government and the international community seemed happy.... Then the opportunity was thrown away."
Meanwhile, the policy affects far more blacks than whites. The industry employs around 1.5 million black farmworkers, many of whom are now living in the bush after being driven off the land by armed squatters.
Goosen, a fourth-generation Zimbabwean, owns 4,700 acres at Nyamandhlovu, northwest of Bulawayo. He bought his farm in 1985 with full government permission - as did many of today's farmers. Last August it was invaded by 70 self-styled war veterans who fired 59 of his 83 workers and threatened them with spears, axes, iron poles, knives, chains, and knobkerries.
Farmers like Goosen are being prevented from preparing the land for the May wheat crop, despite a nationwide food shortage.[End Excerpt]
Opposition lawmaker Renson Gasela, the shadow minister of lands and agriculture, was also formally charged with treason, which carries a maximum penalty of the death sentence in Zimbabwe.
The pair were summoned to the magistrate's court the day after the Commonwealth announced in London that it was suspending Zimbabwe for one year on the basis of a damning report by the 54-member body's election observer mission to Zimbabwe's March 9-11 presidential election.
"This particular appearance is just continued harassment of Mr Tsvangirai and senior members of his party," lawyer Eric Matinenga said.
He said the decision to hold the hearing on Wednesday was "a typical knee- jerk reaction to the events that unfolded yesterday in London".
Four other officials from Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been implicated in the alleged assassination plot.
MDC Secretary General Welshman Ncube was formally charged in connection with the affair last Tuesday, the day before Mugabe was declared to have won the election by a wide margin over Tsvangirai. The opposition leader immediately cried foul.
The court is expected to decide on bail conditions for Ncube and Gasela. - Sapa-AFP [End]
"Mr Tsvangirai's stake in this country is too high to think he would run away from allegations that are very weak indeed," Mr Matinenga said.
The MDC's secretary general, Welshman Ncube, who is also charged with treason, said the charges were "an attempt to continue the harassment of the leadership of the MDC and to make it impossible for us to continue to resist an illegitimate government".
He said the suggestion that the MDC should enter into a government of national unity with Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party "was always out of the question", adding: "You cannot negotiate a government of national unity with a government you believe to be illegitimate." [End Excerpt]
***** A statement from Mugabe's Department of Information and Publicity said the government planned to re-launch its debt-ridden national news agency, Ziana, to "project Zimbabwe's identity and national point of view", extending its operations into 24-hour broadcasting.
State radio said the full report of the media investigation committee, set up by Mugabe last year, would not be available until Thursday but its chairperson, polytechnic lecturer Tafataona Mahoso, told an interviewer the current "poor state of the industry" was due to "racism, polarisation and ownership".
Mahoso, an avowed Marxist, criticised the influence of whites and non- Zimbabweans in privately-owned publications which he said caused polarisation between it and the state-owned media. This in turn led to "confusion in national values and ideas". ****
It continued, "In Zimbabwe, here and now, before our very eyes, in broad daylight, a new class of criminals has been caught red-handed in the act of committing grand larceny, and they and only they are responsible. In defying common sense and decency, justice and the law, in ignoring international opinion and their own international obligations, they decisively broke with the past. In Zimbabwe, today is the beginning of history." Like a priest preparing a sermon damning the heathen sinners, one can almost see the expression of pious self-satisfaction on the author's face as he pens his purple prose. But in reality Mugabe's undoubtedly oppressive methods are being used to excuse the far greater crimes being prepared by Number 10, the Foreign Office and MI6.****
In a brief statement, the two sides said they adopted a set of procedural rules and "an agenda for dialogue" for the talks scheduled to resume May 13.
The rules said the top agenda item was a discussion on the legitimacy of the March 9-11 polls, an apparent concession by the ruling party to keep the talks alive.
The government has dismissed opposition calls for a rerun of the presidential poll, which it says President Robert Mugabe won.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change insisted at the opening of talks Monday that the nation's political stalemate could only be resolved by new elections.
Several independent observer groups have said the elections were deeply flawed. The United States condemned the vote and the Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies suspended Zimbabwe for a year.
Official results showed opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai losing with 1,258,401 votes to Mugabe's 1,685,212.
Tsvangirai condemned the tally as rigged and tainted by political violence and demanded an immediate end to state-orchestrated reprisals against his supporters.
Officials from Nigeria and South Africa are mediating the talks.
Zimbabwe's political crisis is seen as the first test for South Africa's calls for an African "Marshall Plan," where Western countries direct trade and investment to the impoverished continent in exchange for African promises of good governance.
LINK to Cynthia Tucker's editorial on Mugabe's fraudulent election.
The critical voice belonged to Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, who was elected president two years ago in this West African nation after struggling in the opposition for 26 years. In two years, despite having taken some unpopular positions on a continent that has long valued solidarity, Mr. Wade (pronounced wahd) has emerged through the force of his ideas and personality as one of sub-Saharan Africa's three leading spokesmen. (The other two are the presidents of the much more powerful South Africa and Nigeria.)
"Mr. Mugabe did not respect the rules," Mr. Wade said. "The opposition could not wage its campaign. There were many deaths. Electoral laws were changed days before the election. We can't call that an election."****
Cowardly whites who help Mugabe**** A less abashed co-operator is John Bredenkamp, a former member of the Rhodesian rugby team and husband to ex-Miss Rhodesia, who was revealed last Sunday to be the 33rd richest man in Britain with a £720 million fortune and a home in Berkshire. Mr Bredenkamp is thought to be close to Mugabe, but especially to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the speaker of the Zimbabwean parliament and Mugabe's heir-apparent. Mr Bredenkamp's mining operations in the Congo benefit greatly from the incursion of Zimbabwean troops, which is a kind of joint-stock venture by Zanu-PF and its business friends. Has Bredenkamp ever raised his voice in protest at anything done by his chums? On the contrary. He is going round offering to buy up some of the most beautiful white farms, on the understanding that he can get the acquisition orders lifted. Then one might mention another Zanu-PF crony, called Billy Rautenbach, who is wanted by Interpol. And then there are the really big players, the ones who should have had the guts to speak out, but who have kept silent. Prime among these is Anglo-American, the giant South African conglomerate, which is now supposed to have a good liberal conscience.****
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