News / National
Zimbabwe court defends land redistribution
15 Jun 2011 at 14:58hrs | Views
A Gweru court has defended the invasion/ repossession of a Somabhula farm, after the white farmer was on Tuesday found guilty of refusing to give up Zimbabwean land. The land apportionment Act was enacted in Zimbabwe in 1930 and most white say its their land when in actual fact blacks were kicked out of their land after 1930.
87 year old Phillip Hapelt, a South African citizen, was forced to flee the farm earlier this year and was then charged for refusing to voluntarily give up the land.
Phillip and his wife Ellen have for the past two years faced serious threats from local Zanu-PF MP Jabulani Mangena. The couple was brutally beaten in late 2009 when Mangena first started trying to get them to leave.
Many years ago the Hapelts voluntarily gave up the majority of their land for the sake of 'reform', under an agreement that allowed them to remain on their homestead with a small portion of farming land. They have two court orders that entitle them to live on this farm, without fear of invasion or persecution, but they were forced to seek two successive evictions orders in an effort to get Mangena's men off their land last year. Mangena has openly disregarded the rulings of the courts. In March the couple fled the property after a standoff with a mob of land invaders threatened to turn violent.
Their fight has now come to an end after a Gweru court on Tuesday found Phillip guilty of not voluntarily leaving his property. He was fined US$100.
Meanwhile there has been no reaction from the South African authorities on this illegal treatment of one of their citizens, despite Zimbabwe and South Africa both signing an investment protection agreement.
South Africa's silence also comes as the Southern African leadership bloc has dissolved the region's human rights Tribunal, which ruled in 2008 that the Zimbabwe land grab exercise was unlawful. Instead of protecting human rights, Southern African leaders have chosen to silence this court, in a move described as a "regressive" and a serious threat to the region's future.
87 year old Phillip Hapelt, a South African citizen, was forced to flee the farm earlier this year and was then charged for refusing to voluntarily give up the land.
Phillip and his wife Ellen have for the past two years faced serious threats from local Zanu-PF MP Jabulani Mangena. The couple was brutally beaten in late 2009 when Mangena first started trying to get them to leave.
Their fight has now come to an end after a Gweru court on Tuesday found Phillip guilty of not voluntarily leaving his property. He was fined US$100.
Meanwhile there has been no reaction from the South African authorities on this illegal treatment of one of their citizens, despite Zimbabwe and South Africa both signing an investment protection agreement.
South Africa's silence also comes as the Southern African leadership bloc has dissolved the region's human rights Tribunal, which ruled in 2008 that the Zimbabwe land grab exercise was unlawful. Instead of protecting human rights, Southern African leaders have chosen to silence this court, in a move described as a "regressive" and a serious threat to the region's future.
Source - Byo24News
