About 77 white commercial farmers in Zimbabwe lodged a complaint at the regional court, seeking to halt farm expropriations in Zimbabwe.
The white commercial farmers, who are represented in the case by Advocates Jeremy Gauntlett and Adrian de Bourbon, also accused the Zimbabwean government of instituting a racially-based land reform programme and of refusing to compensate white farmers of the expropriated pieces of land.
Gauntlett said the farmers took the case to the regional court after the Zimbabwean government effected amendment 17 of the constitution, which shut out all legal challenges in Zimbabwean courts against land expropriation.
In his submission at the SADC tribunal landmark farm case, which opened here Wed nesday, Zimbabwean lawyer, Prince Machaya, argued that the tribunal could not legislate for member states and had no legal mandate to nullify laws made in member states.
Machaya also argued that SADC heads of state were the only ones who could "arrogate penalties" against member states, should a member fail to conform to set rules and regulations.
In his defence of the country's land reform programme, Machaya said it was unavoidable that only whites would be targeted by landless blacks since they were the only ones who occupied lush farming lands and had been living in an "island of prosperity", whilst the majority blacks were wallowing in abject poverty.
Machaya argued that the tribunal did not have jurisdiction to force the Zimbabwe an government to reverse its laws.
“SADC Treaty merely outlines and sets out frameworks within which binding obligations can then be created for purposes of their being enforced,” he said.
“Ouster of right to approach the Zimbabwean courts effected by amendment 17 is not a contravention of the SADC Treaty and orders of this nature are not competent for the tribunal to make.
"Tribunal should refer the matter to the summit...it cannot legislate on the gov ernment to nullify such legislation,” Machaya said, adding “land reform was inevitable: white farming community occupied just under 50 per cent of all the fertile farming lands whilst the rest of the land was occupied by the indigenous in are as of low rainfall and poor soils.”
Hearing continues Thursday.
Windhoek - 16/07/2008
Pana
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