ZVC prepares case against Mugabe for ICC

nto force in 2002 – has the jurisdiction of the first permanent court capable of investigating and bringing to justice individuals who commit the most serious violations of international humanitarian law, namely war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and, once defined, aggression.
ZVC chairman Dr Phillip Du Toit said ZVC has already collected a substantial amount of information which is being collated to form a background dossier which will be submitted to the ICC in The Hague.
Du Toit said a preliminary notice has been sent to the ICC advising the organisation of the purpose of submitting a ZVC dossier.
The ZVC Law Office is headquartered in Centurion, Pretoria, and all administration is being carried out from there.
Unlike the International Court of Justice in The Hague, whose jurisdiction is restricted to states, the ICC has the capacity to indict individuals.
“We believe that Robert Mugabe will be the first person to be indicted under the ICC, and not a moment too soon,” he said. “We are hopeful the ICC will give our submission full consideration, given the state of government-sponsored starvation, torture, murder and mayhem now existing in Zimbabwe.”
Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba was not immediately available for comment.
Du Toit said the dossier compiled against Mugabe includes cases of farmers, citizens and non-citizens who have been killed or assaulted by the Mugabe regime. The suit also includes cases of farms and crops that have been destroyed causing starvation, lost jobs and equipment destroyed by government proxies. The suit also covers animals lost, maimed or killed, forestry land lost, tobacco barns and grain silos destroyed or purloined.
Other cases involve the abuse of the legal system – intimidation of judges, magistrates, opposition activists, civic society activists and journalists.
The indictment also includes people detained on false charges or without trial.
“It is worth noting that the Mugabe government has reportedly over the past seven years taken from several private investors assets worth US$18 billion,” du Toit said. “This is three times the annual GDP and more than the entire continent of Africa received in foreign aid in the past year, which was US$14,6 billion”.
Du Toit said the policies and behaviour of the Mugabe government were directly responsible for the starvation now existing in Zimbabwe.
“Thousands have lost their homes and their jobs,” he said. “Many have had their private property stolen by the government, property which was purchased after 1980 and which had been guaranteed by the Mugabe government as ‘safe'”.