Court victory for land-grab farmers

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Zimbabwe has offered to return the land to the farmers.
The farmers, under the umbrella of the Dutch Farmers Association (DFA) and in conjunction with Agric-Africa, challenged the government in the International Centre for Settlement and Investment Disputes (ICSID), in Paris.
The admission of Zimbabwe’s liability came this week, said London-based lawyer Matthew Colman of Washington-based arbitration and dispute resolution group Steptoe and Johnson.
The final claim for compensation will now be heard in Paris on October 29.
The farmers were protected from seizure of assets by a bilateral treaty between Zimbabwe and the Netherlands.
After the DFA filed a case in March this year with ICSID, an arm of the World Bank, the government missed a June deadline to reply to the claim for compensation, and asked for an extension until 7 July.
“The news that it has admitted liability is good; however, they put us to strict proof to establish that claimants are Dutch and therefore entitled to claim under the Zimbabwe Netherlands Treaty”, said Colman.
Zimbabwe denies the expropriations were discriminatory or not for a public purpose and maintains they were lawful. “Therefore, for them, the only live issue on expropriation is that compensation has not been paid, which they admit in any event is due, he added.
“They deny breach of fair and equitable treatment and full protection and security. They basically say the police were over stretched. They deny the state instigated the land invasions but say they were a ‘spontaneous reaction of the landless people’.
“They say that the applicable law is Zimbabwean law, supplemented by international law when there is no applicable Zim law”.
The turn of events will create a precedent for Zimbabwean farmers of German, Danish and Swiss nationality, who have been given protection under similar treaties.
This week, Movement for Democratic Change president, Morgan Tsvangirai, told SA’s Institute of Directors that in the event of his party coming to power, it would ensure that land tenure was respected and that productivity was restored in the agricultural sector.
“Above all, we will respect the law and title deeds in terms of land ownership. The courts will have to sort out the mess of land seizures. And those farmers who do not return to farming will be properly compensated”, he said.