HARARE - Zimbabwe's Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an application by a Danish citizen to block President Robert Mugabe's government from seizing his farm outside Harare because it is protected under a bilateral investment protection agreement (BIPA) between Harare and Copenhagen.
In a landmark ruling that could render bilateral investment protection
agreements (BIPA) between Zimbabwe and other countries useless, Deputy
Chief Justice Luke Malaba dismissed the application by Kim Birketoft
but said reasons for the ruling would be provided in due course.
"The order being sought is hereby dismissed. Detailed reasons would be handed in due course," ruled Malaba.
Malaba pointed out that Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, and senior
judges Wilson Sandura, Misheck Cheda and Paddington Garwe were in
agreement with his ruling.
Birketoft had sought relief from the country's highest court after the
High Court had earlier ruled that the government could seize his
Nyahondo farm in Trelawney and hand it over to a top army officer in
total disregard of a BIPA between Zimbabwe and Denmark.
Nyahondo farm was allocated to Brigadier General Kim Tapfumaneyi just
as most of the best farms seized from whites under Mugabe's
controversial land redistribution programme have ended up in the hands
of top officials of his government and ruling ZANU PF party and trusted
military officers.
Several countries among them Austria, France, Germany, Mauritius,
Holland, South Africa, Sweden and Malaysia signed investment protection
agreements with Zimbabwe before the land reform programme began in
2000. The Supreme Court ruling could render these agreements useless.
Mugabe's chaotic and often violent land redistribution programme – that
he says was necessary to ensure blacks also owned some of the best land
previously reserved for whites by former colonial governments – is
blamed for destabilising the mainstay agriculture sector and knocking
down food production by about 60 percent.Â
Zimbabwe has largely survived on food handouts from international relief agencies since the land reforms began seven years ago.
Mugabe however denies his land redistribution exercise caused hunger
and instead puts the blame on poor weather and Western sanctions he
says are responsible for shortages of seed and fertilizers for farmers
to produce enough food. – ZimOnline
Post published in: News