SOUTH AFRICA:A SOUTH African court has given its government 60 days to bring pressure to bear on President Robert Mugabe's regime that will result in some form of remedy for a citizen dispossessed of farms during seizures of white-owned land in Zimbabwe.
In a landmark decision on Monday for South Africans whose Zimbabwe farms or businesses have been seized illegally, Judge Bill Prinsloo in the High Court criticised the government over its failure to help farmer Crawford von Abo, from the Free State, despite his repeated requests for diplomatic protection.
"Over all these years the respondents have done absolutely nothing to assist the applicant, despite diligent and continued requests for diplomatic protection," said the judge, before adding: "No explanation whatsoever has been forthcoming for this tardy and lacklustre behaviour."
Mr von Abo, who is suing his government for damages of Rand60 million (€5.222 million) over its inertia, lost six of his Zimbabwe-based farms in 2002, as well as livestock and machinery, when they were seized by so-called war veterans during the state-backed land expropriations.
While the court ruled the South African government had a constitutional obligation to protect Mr von Abo's rights and that its actions amounted to "an act of bad faith", his application for damages was postponed pending the outcome of attempts to get his land back or a satisfactory remedy.
"I regret to say that it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the respondents were simply stringing the applicant along and never had any serious intention to afford him proper protection," Judge Prinsloo said.
"Their feeble efforts, if any, amounted to little more than quiet acquiescence in the conduct of their Zimbabwean counterparts and their 'war veteran' thugs."
As a way to remedy the abuse of Mr von Abo's rights, diplomatic pressure could be brought to bear on the Zimbabwean government to restore his property or pay him compensation through the yet to be signed bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement with Zimbabwe, the judge said.