Jacob Zuma
These farmers suffered damages because of South African government’s complicity in the dissolution of the Tribunal of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) a few years ago.
This follows the Constitutional Court’s unanimous ruling on 11 December 2018 that former President Jacob Zuma had acted unlawfully and unconstitutional by participating in the process to dissolve the SADC Tribunal.
The SADC Tribunal found in November 2008 that the Zimbabwean government had acted unlawfully and in a racist manner by confiscating white farmers’ land without compensation. It was also found that the expropriated farmers were entitled to fair compensation for the damages that they had suffered as a result of the confiscation of their properties.
In another ruling in 2009, the Tribunal found that the Zimbabwean government had to return the property of Luke Tembani, a black commercial farmer, which had been declared confiscable by the Zimbabwean Land Bank. Zimbabwe ignored the Tribunal’s finding in this regard as well.
Former President Robert Mugabe then convinced the leaders of all the states in the SADC region to dissolve the Tribunal. He was actively supported in this regard by former President Jacob Zuma and Minister Jeff Radebe.
AfriForum has been supporting the Zimbabwean farmers since 2009 in their struggle to enforce the findings of the SADC Tribunal. With the Constitutional Court’s finding that the South African government had acted unlawfully and unconstitutionally, the causa petendi for the damages claim against the South African government was completed. Luke Tembani and 19 other farmers, together with the companies through which they operated their farming activities, now claim damages that they had suffered at the hands of the South African government.
“We are delighted to be part of the ongoing struggle for justice in Zimbabwe after everyone has suffered so much. We thank God that we have got this far and encourage others to take heart and not give up. We also thank AfriForum for all their help and our amazing legal team for sticking with us and believing in seeking justice when so often all seemed lost,” says Ben Freeth, spokesperson of the Mike Campbell Foundation.
Post published in: Agriculture
What I find unpalatable is the the R2 billion damages will be paid by the SA taxpayer and not Zuma. The same taxpayer who, no doubt, have been short changed by Zuma on countless occasions but will never be compensated by the state or whoever is the guilty party because the common person is not so conversant with the law and does not know his/her entitlement. So the common person is short changed by Zuma and when the law savvy are short changed by the State the common person will end up paying them the compensation.
The white farmers who had their farms seized by Zanu PF are going to be compensated and it is the common person who will pay the bill. In this case, those who benefited from the seized farms and never paid even one cent to the state are not being asked to pay the compensation. This is not just!
Land is the medium of production and have been such for decades. Around 1890 a new socio-political environment was created through commercialisation. Thomas Meikles was an outstanding man who is celebrated in politics and business. his vast empire is still standing this include land and properties the big question is how did most of these settlers acquired their wealth? Is there going to be a time when the surviving beneficiaries of this looted wealth compensate the victims? Will we ever have a continent and influential people standing for the right of Africans?
Most of the land in discussion was taken from blacks and given to the white without any compensation. The blacks were even forced to work on the land thus aiding in making the land productive. Most of the land in question was stolen property that was handed down to generations. The period in time is not that long thus the direct beneficiaries of stolen property are the once complaining.
Soon after the world wars the veterans were given land in colonies as compensation. The black African who fought alongside the white man in Burma was given a cloak, watch and a bicycle. It is still fine with most Africans and we are made to believe that. When will the robbed black communities be compensated? Obviously the time will never come by then we may be compensating whites for loosing cheap black labour.
The issue of compensation was supposed to be dealt with case by case. Those who would have purchased the land should be compensated those who get it as packages should go to the colonial masters and ask for their money.