Mugabe vows no reversal of land grab

Mugabe was speaking at Sundays funeral of his brother-in-law Reward Marufu, who was one of many cronies to be rewarded with land stolen from commercial farmers. Mugabe told mourners that efforts to use the human rights court of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to reverse such land seizures, would not yield any results. If government has a policy of redistributing land it should be respected and its no use going to the SADC Tribunal, Mugabe said.

He added: We are a sovereign and independent country. Our laws should be respected and the Tribunal should know that we have our own laws. Deon Theron, the President of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that Mugabes comments are sad but not at all surprising. He said that the government is determined to follow through with its land grab scheme, regardless of court orders.

You know, we have never asked for the land grab to be reversed, we just want it done in a way that empowers Zimbabweans, and is legitimate, Theron said. Clearly there is no legitimacy here, and thats why they wont honour the courts. The SADC Tribunal ruled in 2008 that the land grab was unlawful, and ordered the government to compensate farmers for seized land and protect the remaining commercial farming community from future land invasions. The orders have been completely ignored and the Tribunal itself has been openly snubbed. Mugabe insists that the courts rulings are null and void, calling the Tribunal unconstituted. The High Court then made the shock ruling that the Tribunals rulings were not enforceable in Zimbabwe, effectively letting Mugabe off the hook for ongoing land attacks.

SADC leaders were earlier this month urged to take action against the government for refusing to abide by the rulings of the regional blocs court, despite Zimbabwe being a signatory to the binding SADC Treaty. But SADC instead showed its allegiance to Mugabe and ZANU PF by deciding instead to review the mandate of the Tribunal. This review is set to last six months, and leaves embattled farmers with little hope of justice, effectively suspending the Tribunal.

The CFUs Theron said that SADC is biding its time by refusing to deal with Zimbabwes refusal to honour the Tribunal, saying this is a purely political decision. He warned that it was bad news for the entire region if SADC does not stand by the Tribunal.