Farmers' lawyers to sell Zimbabwe government's R3.5m Cape Town property

Published: 30 June 2013

THREE Zimbabwean farmers whose land was seized in President Robert Mugabe's land reforms won a landmark victory in South Africa's Constitutional Court on Thursday.

Their attorney can now arrange for the sale in execution of a Zimbabwe government property in Kenilworth, Cape Town, which was attached in 2011.

The property had been attached to satisfy a cost order the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) tribunal granted against Zimbabwe for being in contempt of an earlier order it had made against the country.

On Thursday, the Constitutional Court dismissed Zimbabwe's appeal to rescind the costs order the tribunal had made and a South African court had enforced. The court expanded common law precedents on the enforcement of foreign judgments and orders to apply to those of the tribunal.

The judgment means all tribunal decisions against Zimbabwe will be enforceable in South Africa.

Willie Spies, of law firm Hurter Spies, said the firm would now be able to sell the Kenilworth house worth about R3.5m to satisfy the costs order. However, it would be difficult to execute other orders because they needed to be quantified by the tribunal.

This would be impossible because the tribunal, which was formed in 2005, was suspended in 2010 after several judgments went against the Zimbabwean government, Mr Spies said.

Sadc leaders decided not to the revive the original tribunal at a summit late last year.

The case began in 2007 when three Zimbabwean farmers challenged that country's land-reform policy before the tribunal, seeking a ruling that the takeover of their farms by their government without compensation was unlawful.

The tribunal - which during its existence heard cases brought by citizens of Sadc countries against their governments after all domestic legal avenues had been exhausted - found in favour of the farmers. It ordered Zimbabwe to pay compensation.

Zimbabwe refused to pay up. Another tribunal decision found the country guilty of contempt and ordered it to pay the costs of the farmers. It is this cost order that Zimbabwe was challenging in South Africa's courts - and lost.
- BDlive