'Zim can nationalise farms'
07/05/2008 19:22  - (SA)  

Farmer takes SA govt to court 130 white farmers run off land Farmer evicted 'for voting MDC'

Pretoria - It is not wrong for a sovereign state such as Zimbabwe to nationalise the property of its own nationals and South Africa could not interfere, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday.

Counsel for the SA government, Patric Mtshaulane SC, argued that an application by Free State farmer Crawford von Abo to force the government to take steps to compensate him for the millions he lost when his Zimbabwean farms were seized should be dismissed.

Von Abo accused the government of ignoring his repeated requests for diplomatic protection and is seeking a court order to establish his right to such protection.

He also wants the court to order the SA government to become a party to the International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), so that he could pursue a compensation claim against the Zimbabwean government through international arbitration.

R80m as compensation

Should the SA government fail to comply, he wants more than R80m as compensation for his losses.

Mtshaulane argued that the properties confiscated belonged to Zimbabwean entities, which had no claim for diplomatic protection from the SA government.

He argued that the conclusion of international agreements was the prerogative of the Executive and the court could not force SA to become a party to ICSID.

He said there were other means, such as the Bilateral Investment Treaty, through which the dispute could be resolved.

Mtshaulane argued that even if the government was forced to join ICSID, von Abo would still have to obtain Zimbabwe's consent to the arbitration, which was clearly not forthcoming.

Such a court order would therefore be an academic exercise, he added.

Mtshaulane denied that the government had ignored von Abo's requests for protection, although he conceded that the diplomatic steps that were taken "did not yield the desired results".

"The applicant was arrested, charged and imprisoned (in Zimbabwe). In respect of these wrongs, The Republic of SA acted promptly... The applicant cannot seek diplomatic protection in order to pursue a damages claim," he added.

The application continues before Judge Bill Prinsloo.

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