SADC tribunal delays Zimbabwe farmer’s case

By Tererai Karimakwenda
20 November, 2007

The postponement by the new Southern Africa Development Community tribunal in Namibia of a case brought by Zimbabwean farmer William Michael Campbell, has raised suspicion over SADC’s commitment to democratic principles and justice in the region.

Campbell is appealing against the seizure of his property by the government of Robert Mugabe and seeking an order to block interference with operations at his Mount Carmel Farm. The hearing was due to take place Tuesday, but it turned out the registrar of the tribunal had failed to formally inform the respondents, namely the Zimbabwe Government Presidents office and Attorney Generals office.

The reason for the delay, according to Campbell’s lawyers, was that the fax machine in the office of the President is broken. As a result, the tribunal registrar staff had faxed the notice of the hearing to a number that cannot be verified. The hearing has now been tentatively scheduled for December 4th.

Ben Freeth of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said he does not understand why the documents were not served correctly. He added: “The original papers regarding the whole matter were served correctly, and then the matters of set down itself were sent to a different number. Whether there is something behind this we don’t know. Whether it’s just incompetence we don’t know. But the fact is they seem to be delaying the case.”

Delay is nothing new to this case. Campbell turned to this regional tribunal because the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe has delayed passing judgement since March 22nd. Freeth said: “So that’s now 9 months ago and we’ve still not heard from the Supreme Court anything since that date. We’ve written asking them urgently for some sort of indication as to when they’re gonna give a judgement and haven’t heard anything back. We’ve been left very much in the dark.”

Meanwhile, violence and lawlessness continue on commercial farms in the country. And on Saturday the farmer Mike Campbell himself was assaulted by poachers who were randomly shooting animals on his farm.
He went out to investigate and fired a warning shot but he was overpowered and beaten up, before being tied up by his own shoe laces and driven on the back of a truck to Chegutu police station.

Freeth said the 75 year old Campbell was made to sit on concrete for about an hour and, despite being the victim, he was charged with pointing a firearm.

This violence has escalated on many farms. Freeth said he has no idea how the government expects any food production to take place under such conditions. This is why he hopes Campbell’s case at the SADC tribunal is successful.