Government Land Seizures Ruled Illegal

Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court on Friday declared President Robert Mugabe’s land seizures from white farmers illegal and ordered the government to evict self-styled war veterans occupying the farms since February.

The court said the resettlement of the farms “contravened the fundamental right contained in the constitution of Zimbabwe” and told the government to comply within 48 hours.

The mainly white Commercial Farmers Union, or CFU, took the government to court Monday, arguing that presidential powers used by Mugabe to seize white-owned land for black resettlement were invalid under the constitution.

Mugabe amended the constitution earlier this year to give himself the power to seize the farms with no obligation to pay for the land if former colonial power Britain did not provide funding.

The Supreme Court is still considering the constitutionality of the whole process, including the issue of optional payment.

But in its provisional ruling Friday, the court ordered 11 government ministers, the police commissioner and the minister in charge of police to ensure that no illegal settlers remained on the farms.

“The ruling underlines the legal position. We hope the government will respect it,” Tim Henwood, president of the 4,500-member CFU, told Reuters.

There was no immediate reaction from the government, but Mugabe has previously maintained that he would not heed any court order that interfered with his land redistribution program, meant to correct imbalances created by colonial rule.

The government has authorized the invasion of hundreds of farms by veterans of Zimbabwe’s 1970s liberation war against white rule.

Mugabe argues that they are demonstrating support for his land redistribution program. But critics say he hopes to divert attention from a growing political challenge triggered by an economic crisis blamed on government mismanagement.

The CFU argued this week that the Presidential Powers Act, which Mugabe’s government has used to earmark 3,041 farms for resettlement, was designed to deal with emergencies only, not to replace the legislative authority of parliament.

Zimbabwe’s Deputy Attorney General Bharat Patel defended Mugabe, saying the CFU case contained “vague and generalized allegations that are essentially political in nature.”