Posted on 09/07/2002 4:23:55 AM PDT by Clive
COMMERCIAL farmers are receiving positive judgments from the Zimbabwean judiciary even though an insidious campaign of intimidation against the legal profession unfolds. These attacks, reported in the press in the last few weeks, are not isolated incidents. They are part of a pattern of intimidation meant to enforce judicial and legal support for the government’s policies or failing this to declare it irrelevant. With these developments yet another barrier has been placed in the road to a return to the rule of law.
President Mugabe continues to usurp any and all speaking opportunities to ‘pretend’ that no single-owned farms are being acquired and that his Government is abiding by its criteria.
As this release is written the Andy and Sharon Kockott who won their legal battle to retain their farm, stand by and watch as their Coffee plantation is uprooted to make way for illegal settlers huts. The Carter family on unlisted Wye Farm were last allowed in their Raffingora home in January 2002. They grew Virginia Tobacco, Paprika and Maize. Smith Mereki, a war veteran evicted them scoffing at their High Court order granting them the right to continue farming. These are a few of the 1024 single owned farms listed for acquisition and in most cases illegally evicted by war veterans. Many will win their cases and be permitted to return to their farms but the battle to win their right to a livelihood continues.
Justice for Agriculture call on our President to explain why there is such a chasm between his ‘words’ and the ‘deeds’ of the settlers on the ground. We call on him to accept that he has compromised agricultural TRADE for shameful AID and reduced proud Zimbabweans to piteous beggars in just two years. More and more land that was once productive lies fallow, this as the dams are 75% full.
As to the land reform programme, we demand an explanation as to why he is not accountable to his constitution and to the legal instruments ignored in implementing the land reform programme. The programme communicated in the ‘People First’ policy document is also being ignored despite the fact that it was recognised by the Supreme Court as a ‘sound’ programme.
Land is being handed out willy nilly to the politically correct with scant regard to sustainable development or even to legalizing the position of settlers on the land so that they can speedily grow crops to feed Zimbabwe.
JAG has before the courts, test cases challenging the amendments to the Land Acquisition Act. These amendments, which came in through the back door of parliament by ignoring standing orders, are odds with the Zimbabwean Constitution. JAG will continue to advocate for agricultural stakeholders to continue to test the judiciary in the hopes that this will unlock the way forward for a return to the rule of law and true peace and productivity in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile Ministers Made (Lands and Agriculture), Chombo (Local Government and National Housing Affairs) and Chinamasa (Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs) continue to insist settlers from both the A1 (villagised) and A2 (commercial) take up land allocated to them by the Lands and Agriculture Ministry. In so doing they are forcing the shutting down and eviction of farm operators and their staff. The Ministers are also silent on the provision of any legal rights on the land allocated.
Under current legislation no government minister can give out legal rights in State property, including any land acquired by the State, except in terms of a power given to him by a statute.
The statute in question, the Agricultural Land Settlement Act Ch 20:01 requires the Agricultural Land Settlement Board consider every application for a lease and make its recommendations and report before the Minister makes a decision to allocate land.
This Board has to take into account various matters specified in the Act, and keep a record of its proceedings. No Members of Parliament can be involved, and any Board member who has any interests himself or through family or business interests has to declare this interest and can take no further part in the process.
Despite this, when the Chairman and Secretary of the Board were subpoenaed to attend a court in Harare last week, the Ministry of Lands advised that it had not been working and had not considered any applications, and that the identities of the Chairman and Secretary were not even known there – finally confirming mounting suspicions that the law on allocations was being totally disregarded.
All the allocations are instead being made by Land Task Force Committees chaired by the Provincial Governors who fall under the Ministry of Local Government and Housing whose Minister is Ignatius Chombo, himself an illegal invader of a farm in Mashonaland West.
It appears that all new settlers are being asked to begin cropping on land that they have no legal rights on. Legal opinion is that the ‘Allocation Letters’, which are signed by Minister Made and made available to beneficiaries, have been prepared and are issued without any consideration or recommendation from the Board, first, are of no legal effect, “quite worthless”.
This adds another legal problem for settlers, particularly those trying to raise funds from financial institutions. Already if the Minister fails to prove a case against the owner in the Administrative Court (where cases concerning about 2,500 pieces of land are pending), the Land Acquisition Act obliges the court to order its return to the owner. The Act makes no provision for any payment to be made for standing crops by either the owner or government, and it is thought to be very unlikely that the law could help them at all in terms of restitution of losses.
Government has also been urging settlers to quit their jobs before they move onto the land. The Act requires that new settlers use the land themselves – precluding them from handing over possession to another.
As Government Ministers, we presume that the above Ministers are well aware of the Act. It is referred to in the official land reform programme, and in various forms being handed out, and their motives for ignoring it in practice and creating a situation where settlers are using land only ‘by grace and favour’ are unknown.
The decisions on what land to take and who will get it are incorrectly being made by the unauthorised people, instead of the Court first deciding what should be taken and the Board considering who will be able to use it.
No effort is being made to calculate the cost or stay within the budget for acquisitions. The result is that, contrary to the official program aimed at under-utilised land, the best developed land is usually being targeted, existing farm businesses are being shut down, and farmers are seen being chased from their homes – while the country is believed to be racking up debts for compensation which will burden it for years to come.
JAG is also in the process of putting together a group action to sue for losses in terms of stolen assets and loss in earnings for both owners and employees. Estimates available indicate that the amount in question could far exceed Z$ 20 Billion.
4th September 2002
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