Zim planes, trains face seizure

In claims registered recently in New York, the farmers have now been empowered to attach planes, trains and any assets belonging to quasi-state corporations which they can identify outside Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe flies planes to various destinations around the world and runs trains into neighbouring countries.

Every day we have a new writ. The farmers registered an order in New York and they can attach any quasi-state asset owned by such organizations as NRZ and Air Zimbabwe, said Finance Minister Tendai Biti during a post-budget meeting with members of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) last Friday.

The farmers are also said to be identifying offshore financial assets owned by Zimbabwean parastatals with the intention of seizing them.

This would make doing business virtually impossible for many state firms.

A South African court last month ruled that three commercial farmers and a German bank owed money by the government could auction a building owned by the Zimbabwe government in Cape Town.

The farmers and the German Bank had initially targeted to auction three Zimbabwean properties but the South Gauteng High Court ruled that they could only sale the one building in Kenilworth, Cape Town, because it was being rented out to a third party for commercial gain and therefore no longer enjoyed diplomatic protection.

Biti said other government buildings were only saved on the grounds of sovereign immunity (diplomatic immunity). But the finance minister the only way to resolve the problem was to pay compensation to the farmers for properties they lost in Zimbabwe.

We have to solve the issue of this debt, the Minister said. However, paying off the farmers may prove difficult as the bankrupt Harare government owes billions to other lenders, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.