In what is regarded as a landmark case for South African farmers and other
citizens with business interests in Zimbabwe the Pretoria High Court on
Tuesday ruled in favour of a Bothaville farmer who lost his farms and
business in that country.
Judge Bill Prinsloo ruled that Crawford von Abo had the right to diplomatic
protection from the South African government regarding the violation of his
rights by the government of Zimbabwe.
Prinsloo ruled that the government should, within 60 days take all necessary
steps to have Von Abo’s violation of his rights remedied and to report back
to court regarding the steps it had taken.
The 75-year-old Von Abo has been struggling for more than six years with the
South African government to act against Zimbabwe’s confiscation of land
belonging to South Africans.
His pleas fell on deaf ears and his counsel earlier told the court that Von
Abo’s endeavours to receive help from the government were like “the Yellow
Brick Road – the road to nowhere”.
Von Abo earlier told the court that in 1997 the Zimbabwean government
violated his rights by destroying his property interests in a number of
farms in that country as part of its policy to expropriate white-owned
farms.
He was not paid any compensation.
Prinsloo said he regretted to say that “it is difficult to resist the
conclusion that the respondents (government) were simply stringing the
applicant along and never had any serious intention to afford him proper
protection”.
“Their feeble efforts, if any, amounted to little more than quiet
acquiescence in the conduct of their Zimbabwean counterparts and their ‘war
veteran’ thugs,” Prinsloo said.
He added that Von Abo had demonstrated that his rightful property in
Zimbabwe was unlawfully expropriated under international law and that he
wasn’t compensated for it.
Prinsloo said Von Abo made futile efforts to protect his interests by
litigating against the Zimbabwean government in that country.
He said given the almost absolute disregard the government there showed for
orders of its own courts, particularly regarding the expropriation, no more
remedies were available for him.
He added that the SA government dealt with the Von Abo matter in bad faith
and irrationally.
“For six years or more, in the face of a stream of urgent requests – they
(government) did absolutely nothing to bring about relief to the applicant
and hundreds of other white commercial farmers in the same position.
“Their ‘assistance’ was limited to empty promises.”
“They exhibited neither the will nor the ability to do anything constructive
to bring their northern neighbour to book.”
Prinsloo continued: “They paid no regard, of any consequence, to the plight
of valuable citizens such as the applicant with a 50-year track record in
Zimbabwe and other hard-working white commercial farmers making a
substantial contribution to the GDP in Zimbabwe and providing thousands of
people with work in that country.”
Prinsloo said he had thus concluded that Von Abo qualified for diplomatic
protection.
“This may involve effective diplomatic pressure on the Zimbabwean government
to restore the properties to the applicant and his companies and to pay
compensation for losses and damages.”
Prinsloo, as part of his ruling, indefinitely postponed Von Abo’s claim for
damages against government regarding the farms and business interests he had
lost in Zimbabwe.
In this regard, Von Abo during the trial indicated that the total
conservative damages pertaining to the six farms, including implements and
other assets he had lost, amounted to about R60-million.
Von Abo’s lawyer Ernst Penzhorn called his client directly following the
verdict to give him the news.
Penzhorn said Van Abo “is grateful that he could have turned to a court in
his own country to protect his rights. This is comforting if one looks at
how he was treated with no sympathy by members of the executive”.
Penzhorn said they would now have to approach the constitutional court to
confirm Prinsloo’s judgment.
He said he believed yesterday’s judgment would open the door for many South
Africans who had lost all their business interests in Zimbabwe.
Regarding the damages claim he said they will first see what the response of
government is before they act further on the claim.
This article was originally published on page 1 of The Pretoria News on July
30, 2008
Post published in: News