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SADC Tribunal: Back to the future

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IT almost became a reality for the country to close the year disconnected from the madness of the West, but going by the South African Constitutional Court ruling on the disbandment of the much maligned SADC Tribunal, we are in for yet another political tangle with the West.

There is a fresh attempt to bring back the SADC Tribunal and, in the process, derail the hugely successful Land Reform and Resettlement Programme of 2000.

This is what the ruling by South Africa’s Constitutional Court was all about.

But there is a catch to that.

This column will unravel it in detail in this instalment.

First things first.

That attempt, as is the case with previous ones, is bound to fail.

The land issue in Zimbabwe is a closed chapter.

It is one that will never be reversed for very obvious reasons.

And that attempt is designed to scare off South Africa from embarking on land reform.

Zimbabwe’s southern neighbour has been pushing for expropriation of land from whites without compensation but that move has been met with stiff resistance from white farm owners and Western countries who have threatened to impose economic sanctions on SA.

Harare suffered a similar fate when it was slapped with sanctions by the US on December 21 2001 while the EU followed suit on February 18 2002 over the Land Reform and Resettlement Programme.

SA’s largest agricultural union, AgriSA, a grouping that advocates the ‘rights’ of white commercial farmers, has in the recent past said it would ‘stop’ the impending land reclamation drive in that country.

“The proposed amendment is politically motivated and will cause large scale damage to the South African economy. The priority for millions of South Africans is job creation, housing, crime prevention and quality education,” the union said in a statement last month.

In Zimbabwe, an outfit called the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) tried but with little success to stop implementation of the land reform drive.

The organisation even took the Government of Zimbabwe to regional and international courts, claiming that the move to seize land from whites was ‘illegal’.

They went on to sponsor production and publication of documentaries, books and biographies of what they claimed was violation of their ‘rights’ by Zimbabwean authorities and the ‘death’ of agriculture in the country.

That failed to gain currency as the world embraced the need for the majority to own and control their land.

On the other hand, Zimbabwean farmers have gone on to break records that were set by the white commercial farmers, especially in tobacco production.

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng ruled on Tuesday last week that the decision by former South African President Jacob Zuma to support the disbandment of the so-called SADC Tribunal was ‘unconstitutional’ and must thus be rescinded by new President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The Mogoeng judgment was supported by six other Justices in a clear sign of the extent to which the South African judiciary has been compromised.

These courts are platforms which white capital use to control the entire government.

They do not rule in favour of the majority but put their eggs where the interests of the minority lie.

This is an anomaly that, if not carefully handled, has the potential to destabilise SA.

Let us hear what Mogoeng said:

“The president’s decision to render the tribunal dysfunctional is unconstitutional, unlawful and irrational. And so is his signature. The appropriate remedy is simply to declare his (Zuma’s) participation in arriving at that decision, his own decision and signing of the protocol, constitutionally invalid, unlawful and irrational.”

White farmers who lost land in Zimbabwe have been frantically trying to reverse the land reform programme.

Their actions are driven by malice and mischief that borders on blatant disregard of the black race.

They still live in ancient times where they believe they rule the world on the basis of the colour of their skin.

That is a lie they have created, a lie that hinges on the myopic thinking that if land gets in the hands of the majority, it destroys the economy.

This is a lie that is being sold to South Africans.

One prays that they do not fall for that ruse.

The whites supposedly ‘won’ a SADC Tribunal case in 2009 that ordered the Zimbabwean Government to compensate them and to end the ‘theft’ of land. 

The Tribunal ruled that Zimbabwe had violated SADC treaty law, but Harare simply ignored the ruling.

But in 2014 a SADC Summit resolved to suspend the operations of the Tribunal by not replacing members whose terms had expired or were expiring, so that it could no longer quorate. 

President Zuma participated in this, hence the senseless Mogoeng ruling last week.

This is the time for SA and SADC to be vigilant as the road to land reclamation, as has been shown by the Zimbabwean experience, is replete with landmines.

The regional bloc must unite and fend off any potential threats that may arise in so far as the land issue is concerned.

The SADC Tribunal died in 2014 and any attempts to revive it must be resisted.

Let those with ears listen.

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