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 THE South African government has accepted that the ongoing land invasions are unlawful, and that rulings of the Sadc Tribunal were binding.
This followed a High Court application by farmers’ rights organisation Agriforum, which filed an urgent application seeking to stop the signing of the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (Bippa) on Friday.
Agriforum represents more than 200 South African farmers in Zimbabwe and some of them have been forced to leave the country.
South African lawyer Willie Spies, who instituted the urgent court proceedings on behalf of the organisation confirmed the SA position on Zimbabwe’s controversial land reform programme.
“The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria made an order in terms of which the Government of South Africa undertakes to respect and honour the judgments by the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Tribunal in favour of commercial farmers in Zimbabwe, and to uphold the rights and remedies of victims of Zimbabwe’s unlawful land expropriation exercise,” he said.
Speaking at a Bippa signing ceremony in Harare Friday, South Africa’s trade and industry minister Rob Davies said they had reached an out of court settlement giving that country’s government the greenlight to conclude the pact.
“A group of people in South Africa wrote to us saying they were seeking an interdict to stop us from signing,” he said. “But we obtained an out of court settlement in which a judge advised that there were no legal impediments.”
Davies said the SA government was convinced that the Bippa would create legal security to both present and future investment in Zimbabwe thereby creating confidence for more investment to flow into the country.
But while the signing was going on and the assurances being made, a group of about 15 drum-beating people invaded Umvovo Farm, which is owned by Thomas and Sue Beattie. The invaders, led by Sylivester Hanyani and Nicholas Hanyani first invaded the farm in August, but were restrained by the courts.
On Friday, they camped at the farm and sang all night, setting some parts of the farm on fire.
“They are not being humane enough about the whole thing,” Sue said yesterday. “The police officers who are attending to the scene are also not helping matters either, they are not stopping them. They are only listening to Mr Hanyani, and not us.”
This position, and progress on the case, could not be clarified with police spokesperson Andrew Phiri, who referred the enquiry to the provincial team. Mashonaland West provincial spokesperson Assistant Inspector Peter Zhanero said he was not yet aware of the chaos at the farm.
Justice for Agriculture spokesperson John Worswick said “there should be a moratorium on the invasions”.
“This is retribution for us,” Worswick said. “Other countries respect the Sadc Tribunal, but our government has taken a position different from other Sadc countries.”
The Beatties used to be among Zimbabwe’s leading commercial farmers, with interests in crop production and animal husbandry.
In a legal opinion last week, South African legal consultants Jeremy Gauntlett and FB Pelser said the South African government would be violating that country’s law if it signed the deal thereby immunising Zimbabwe from its international law liabilities. They also said the South African government would have acted contrary to the principles of the Sadc Treaty and other international instruments.
“Of significance is the fact that the Bippa – which is aimed at providing security of tenure to South African investments in Zimbabwe – expressly excludes past claims arising from Zimbabwe’s post-2000 land seizure measures, despite the fact that such claims have been upheld by the relevant international court,” the consultants said.
Davies said the pact will help in unlocking Zimbabwe’s growth potential which will benefit SA by reducing social pressures caused by the influx of immigrants into that country.
Elton Mangoma, the Minister of Economic Planning and Development said Zimbabwe was working on compensating those farmers whose land had been expropriated.
“The inclusive government has a life of its own which is different from that of the previous government and we are committed to the rule of law,” he said. “Regarding farms that we expropriated, our constitution says compensation is due to the farmers.
“We know that we are in debt and government’s inability to pay should not be taken as a repudiation of debt. That is the reason why none of our ministers has ever disputed that we have to pay. We are talking to the farmers regarding this issue of compensation.”
Mangoma said Zimbabwe was fully behind the idea of a Sadc Tribunal but stood by its stance that the region has to make the court legally exist for it to give judgement on legal matters.
Zimbabwe continues to disregard a recent ruling by the tribunal compelling it to stop evicting some farmers from their land.
But Mangoma admitted that the country still needs to resolve issues around security of tenure, saying he was certain that would have been done by the end of next year.
He said by signing the deal, Zimbabwe was telling the world that it was ready for investment and to be a world player.
He said the country was ready to extend the terms of the Bippa to all investors from other countries.
He advised that contrary to widespread fears, Zimbabwe was not going to nationalise anybody’s businesses that is why it was signing the Bippa.
“We have created an environment conducive for investment and among other things, we have a stronger government at the moment,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara urged local businesses to grow their businesses regionally to broaden and strengthen their balance sheets so as to survive a tight competition likely to be brought by the Bippa once it is implemented.
Davies was accompanied by a group of more than 50 business people from South Africa’s various sectors, including energy, telecommunications, mining and infrastructure development.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE AND JENNIFER DUBE
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