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From: as on 6 Aug 2010 09:57
Farmer accused of contempt over shock land ruling

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
05 February 2010

A commercial farmer, who has been campaigning for the implementation of
a
regional land ruling that declared the land 'reform' programme
unlawful, has
now been accused of contempt of court, after he criticised a High Court
judge's decision to dismiss the same ruling in Zimbabwe.

Chegutu farmer Ben Freeth could face contempt of court charges if the
Law
Society of Zimbabwe agrees that his reaction to the judge's ruling
warrants
such charges. Justice Barack Patel last month dismissed a finding by
the
human rights court of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC),
which ruled that Robert Mugabe's land grab campaign was unlawful.
Justice
Patel said the regional Tribunal's ruling would have no effect in
Zimbabwe
because of the political upheaval that reversing 10 years of land
seizures
would cause.

In response to the ruling, Freeth, who heads the SADC Tribunal Rights
Watch
group, said: "it is a sad day for any country rife with human rights
abuse
when a member of the judiciary entrenches the future possibility of
human
rights abuse." In a statement Freeth likened Justice Patel's actions to
those of "judges under dictatorial regimes such as in Nazi Germany or
Stalinist Soviet Union."

Freeth is now being accused of 'attacking' Justice Patel in an article
by
the state's mouthpiece newspaper, the Herald. The paper reported on
Friday
that Gerald Mlotshwa, a lawyer who was involved in the case, has since
written to the Law Society of Zimbabwe and the government saying
Freeth's
conduct was in contempt of court. The letter was reportedly also copied
to
Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Chief Justice
Godfrey
Chidyausiku, Judge President Rita Makarau and lawyers Gollop and Blank.
Mlotshwa told the Herald that Freeth's statements 'fell outside the
limits
of reasonable courtesy in publicly criticising judges.'
"By effectively labelling Justice Patel a Nazi judge responsible for
legalising ethnic cleansing, Mr Freeth clearly intended to shake public
and
international confidence in the manner in which justice is being
administered by the High Court, and in particular the learned judge in
Zimbabwe," Mlotshwa told the Herald.
Mlowtshwa added: "The statement clearly scandalises a judge of the High
Court of Zimbabwe, and in my view amounts to contempt of court."
The SADC Tribunal's ruling in 2008 came as a hard won victory for a
group of
79 commercial farmers who had all either lost land, or been targeted
for
land invasion under the chaotic land grab campaign. Led by Chegutu
farmer
Michael Campbell and his son-in-law Freeth, the farmers took their
battle
before the Tribunal in an effort to secure their property rights. The
Tribunal ordered that the government respect those rights and
compensate the
farmers who had already lost land. As a SADC member state, Zimbabwe was
meant to adhere to the Tribunal ruling.
But the farmers' hard won battle amounted to little and the often
violent
drive to remove the remaining commercial farmers from productive land
in
Zimbabwe has continued to intensify. Campbell is no longer on the
property,
which was violently invaded last year by thugs working for top ZANU PF
official Nathan Shamuyarira. All the crops were stolen along with much
of
the farming equipment. Both the Campbell's and the Freeth's properties
were
burnt down, as well as the homes of their workers, who were also beaten
and
brutalised.
Since the SADC ruling in late 2008 at least 80 other properties have
also
been forcibly taken over in direct contravention of the Tribunal's
orders.
At the same time more than 4,000 farming families and at least a
million of
their workers and their families have been driven off the land and out
of
their homes since Mugabe launched the land grab campaign a decade ago.
The
country's leading agricultural workers' union, GAPWUZ, has said that at
least 60% of workers evicted in the land reform exercise were beaten
and
brutalised by land invaders. Farmers, who kept in contact with their
staff
after eviction, have reported that 40% have died since losing their
homes
and jobs. Meanwhile, most of the beneficiaries of 'land reform' have
been
top ZANU PF officials who now own multiple properties. These farms have
mostly been left to run barren, leaving the 'breadbasket' of Africa
almost
wholly dependent on food aid.
It is for this reason that Freeth criticised Patel's ruling, explaining
that
far from being for the 'public good,' the land reform program has
'indisputably' been a programme of violent, forced eviction that has
resulted in the total collapse of agriculture in Zimbabwe.

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