20100328
SABC

Afriforum says it will help Zimbabwean farmers seize property owned by President Robert Mugabe's government in Cape Town on Tuesday this week.

This is in compensation for farms and property seized under his controversial land reform programme. Afriforum says because the properties in Cape Town are of a non-diplomatic nature, they can be attached.

Last month, the North Gauteng High Court upheld a ruling by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal directing the Zimbabwe government to compensate farmers who had lost properties through land reform. Zimbabwe has ignored that ruling and its High Court has rejected the SADC tribunal judgment.

The SADC tribunal in November 2008 ruled that Zimbabwe violated international law with its 2005 constitutional amendment. It allowed the seizure of white-owned farms without compensation. AfriForum says the SADC ruling will become part of South African law and will be enforceable in this country.

It would also mean that to a large extent people who have been affected by the land reform process can start claiming their damages in South African courts and enforce these damage claims through the execution against government or Zimbabwean assets in South Africa.