20100716
reuters

WINDHOEK (Reuters) - A Southern African Development Community tribunal has asked a regional summit of heads of state to consider a request by a white farmer to suspend the Zimbabwe government from the group over its seizure of his land.

The tribunal in 2008 ruled in favour of 78 white farmers fighting against the seizure of their land by President Robert Mugabe's government, but Harare has ignored the verdict.

In the latest application to the tribunal, farmer Louis Karel Fick wants SADC leaders to suspend Zimbabwe until it upholds the tribunal's order to return confiscated land or compensate farmers for lost property.

Zimbabwe's government has refused to comply with the SADC tribunal's rulings and is challenging its legitimacy. The government's lawyers have stopped attending tribunal hearings.

Zimbabwe's courts have declined to register the tribunal's decision, saying it violates the country's constitution.

This is the third time the SADC tribunal has referred Zimbabwe to the highest regional body for non-compliance with court orders, continued human rights abuses and violation of the SADC Treaty, of which Zimbabwe is a signatory.

Earlier referrals did not result in action against Zimbabwe. The heads of state will meet in Windhoek on 16-17 August, but analysts doubt they will take any drastic action against Zimbabwe.

Critics accuse African leaders of taking a soft stance on Mugabe, slammed by the West over controversial policies like his seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution among blacks.

"Evidence is piling up against Zimbabwe as a rogue country that doesn't adhere to court order and continues to violate human rights," Fick's lawyer Norman Tjombe told Reuters.

"The writing is on the wall. The summit must take action, otherwise the bodies of SADC are expensive white elephants."