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Farmer takes SA govt to court
07/05/2008 10:47 - (SA)
Pretoria - Free State farmer Crawford von Abo is taking action in the Pretoria High Court to have the government forced to compensate him R80m for the seizure of his 14 Zimbabwean farms, unless it acts to protect his rights.
He wants the court to declare that he not only has a right to diplomatic protection against the Zimbabwe government's violation of his rights, but that the South African government is obliged to provide this.
A former chairperson of South Africa's maize and wheat boards, Von Abo was left penniless in Zimbabwe when settlers invaded and destroyed his 14 farms. He was arrested when he refused to leave his only remaining farm.
He has accused the South African government of acting irrationally and "woefully inadequately" in addressing his repeated applications for diplomatic protection.
Violation of rights
Meanwhile, German and French farmers' properties in Zimbabwe were returned to them after their governments intervened, he contends.
Von Abo has asked the court to order the South African government, President Thabo Mbeki and the ministers of foreign affairs and trade and industry to do whatever it takes to remedy the violation of his rights.
This includes becoming a party to the International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), to enable him to claim against the Zimbabwean government through international arbitration.
He is claiming compensation of R80m for his losses should the South African government not comply.
On Tuesday, his legal representative Peter Hodes SC accused the government of "tardiness" in its actions both to protect Von Abo and respond to his court application.
"Von Abo had been there for 50 years. He had built up a large enterprise and was entitled to be dealt with as an individual... The respondents simply passed the buck and failed to deal with the matter. They talked a lot, but each time they passed the buck to another department."
The government's attempts at diplomatic protection had produced "less than nothing", he added.
The application continues before judge Bill Prinsloo.
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