A GROUP of white farmers dispossessed of their land under President Robert Mugabe’s land reform programme have been granted ownership of a Zimbabwean government-owned house in Cape Town by the local courts.
The farmer’s lawyer, Willie Spies, said the €250,000 house in the suburb of Kenilworth had been attached by the sheriff’s office, and would be sold by the farmers to cover the legal costs in a case they won against the Zimbabwean government. The seizure is linked to a November 2008 verdict delivered by the South African Development Community (SADC) tribunal which stated the Zimbabwean government had unlawfully taken farms owned by a group of 78 white farmers.
The court also ruled the farmers were being targeted because of their race, and the Zimbabwean government should ensure their ongoing harassment stopped.
The Zimbabwean government has since rejected the ruling, and the invasion of white-owned farms has continued. However, a South African high court last month ruled the SADC verdict stood locally as it was a member of the regional body.
“We see it as a way to send out a message to show the Zimbabwean government that there are certain consequences to their abuse of human rights,” Mr Spies told reporters.
“This is a process aimed at helping all the people of Zimbabwe in a way that creates hope and shows that it is possible for civil society to institute civil sanctions against a regime that does not help its people,” he added.
The farmers were allowed to take the house because it was being rented out to tenants as a commercial property, and was therefore not protected by diplomatic immunity.
It is understood three other houses in Cape Town, that are owned by the Zimbabwean government, may be subjected to a seizure application by the farmers through the courts, as they are also not protected by diplomatic immunity.
