Judge Roger Claassen had previously earlier refused the Zimbabwe government’s application to set aside three rulings in favour of the farmers. But on Wednesday he reversed this decision, opening the doors for the government to approach the Supreme Court of Appeal..
Although a costs order of less than R200 000 was at stake, Judge Claassen said the case was important as it involved various issues regarding international relations. He said it was possible that a higher court could have a different take on the issues.
The legal representative for civil rights group AfriForum, which has assisted the farmers in the legal case, said that the Zimbabwe government did not come to court with clean hands. Willie Spies said the government instead came “with hands dripping with the blood of people who were being actively persecuted.”
Spies pointed out that numerous judges in various courts had already ruled in favour of the farmers, adding that it was unlikely that the Appeal Court would intervene in a case revolving around a cost order of less than R200 000.
Judge Claassen ruled in favour of the farmers in June this year, and ordered that the seizure of Zimbabwean assets in South Africa could go ahead.
He also ruled that the High Court had the jurisdiction to register rulings
by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal that Zimbabwe’s land reform was unlawful. That Tribunal has since been suspended, in what many have said is an attempt by the region to stay in Robert Mugabe’s favour. – SW Radio Africa News
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