Black farmers lose land bid

2008-09-17 19:14

Windhoek - A regional tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the land claims of 343 black Zimbabwean farmers who argued they cannot move onto seized white-owned farms as the owners were still present.

The farmers applied for relief last week to move onto commercial farms that are under an interim protection order given earlier this year to nearly 80 white farmers, led by Michael Campbell.

Judge Ariranga Pillay rejected the application, saying the tribunal had no jurisdiction over the matter as it was not a dispute with the State, but with the group of white farmers.

"The 343 applicants have not adduced any evidence before us that they were denied access to justice and have suffered racial discrimination or loss and this application is frivolous, constitutes an abuse of process and is consequently thrown out," Pillay said.

The full bench of five judges of the Southern African Development Community tribunal is expected to deliver judgement at the end of this week on the Campbell group.

The group remained on the farms on the grounds that seizing farms without compensation in Zimbabwe was unconstitutional and violated their human rights.

In 2000, 4 500 white farmers in Zimbabwe were forced to hand over millions of hectares of land in what President Robert Mugabe trumpeted as a land reform programme to right injustices of the colonial era.

While landless blacks were meant to be the beneficiaries of the controversial programme, some farms ended up in the hands of Mugabe supporters.

- AFP