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Judge tells SA to pay for Mugabe sins
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| February 09 2010 at 06:49AM |
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Submit your comment By Karen Breytenbach The government was ordered to pay damages to a South African farmer Free State farmer Crawford von Abo, who began farming in Zimbabwe 50 years ago, was arrested for "trespassing" on his main farm in 1997 and even spent time in a Zimbabwean jail as Zanu-PF cracked down on white farmers and expropriated their land.Continues Below ↓ After trying unsuccessfully to negotiate with the Zimbabwean government, he turned to the government of then-president Thabo Mbeki for diplomatic protection and, later, out of frustration, to the courts. In July 2008, Van Abo won a landmark judgment in the Pretoria High Court, which ruled that he was entitled to diplomatic protection from the SA government. Judge Bill Prinsloo ruled then that the government should, within 60 days, take all necessary steps to have Von Abo's violation of his rights remedied and to report back to court about the steps it had taken. Despite a meeting in August 2008 with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry officials, and several follow-up meetings involving Zimbabwean diplomats and officials, Van Abo did not receive the protection to which he was entitled and had to continue his legal battle. Whether the South African government planned to appeal In a strongly worded judgment delivered last week, Judge Prinsloo threw the rule book at the South African government, taking issue with what he regarded as its contempt of court and failure to protect its citizens.He ruled that Von Abo had established the right to be paid damages by the South African government for breaching his constitutional rights. He rejected the government counsel's argument that diplomatic intervention became "toothless" simply because an offending state exhibited no intention to co-operate. South Africa was the economic "powerhouse of the region" and it was common knowledge that Zimbabwe was dependent on it for almost every conceivable form of aid. "I see no reason why the (South African government) cannot apply the necessary pressure, under these circumstances, to assist their valuable and long-suffering citizens, such as the applicant." Judge Prinsloo was scathing about the government's failure to report back as ordered on the way forward for Von Abo. Nor had it made any effort to comply with court orders. This "abject failure... to demonstrate any visible sign of even taking notice of these orders" amounted to contempt of court. » View article on a single page |
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Showing page 1 of 7 comment pages, 64 total comments
3 Weeks ago Zimbabwean and African wrote :
Xolile you idiot, define African ? It is the mentality lke yours that has harmed the continent and many countries north or our borders in the past and leads to ruin of our own country in the future !!!
3 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
I think the government will appeal this judgement.Zimbabwe is not one of the provinces of RSA.
3 Weeks ago Xolile wrote :
The land belongs to the zimbabwians and not to the white peoples who was stealing the lands from the africans during the years of apathaid! The lands must be given back to its rightfull peoples. In this reasons it must be given back to the african peoples of zimbabwe and not to the boer from south africa who took the lands during the years of apathaid!
4 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
Since when does the government of one country pay for the muck up of the government of another country? And as a matter of interest will Magable have to pay when our people start claiming for land taken by the SA government. You think it isn't being taken? Think again.
4 Weeks ago Gatvol Mulungu wrote :
It's going to be interesting to watch the response of government on this one. Serves them right, as an influencial member state of the AU not to have put an end to Mugabe's abuses a long time ago. The race card is an age old ploy in Africa meant to be a smoke screen to the real issues of power abuse.
4 Weeks ago GF.A wrote :
Mtetwa - goodness I hope so, we'll soon have the entire ANC government in jail soon by your reckoning!!!
4 Weeks ago Epona wrote :
Another snafu by a Government which doe snot know what it is doing.
What a bunch of incompetent imbeciles.
No we, the tax payer, have to fork out for the goverment's incompetence.
It also appears that the Judge, Pronsloo, is also a bit of a dummy.
von Abo, with 11 farms, was obviously doing very well thank you and living the life of O'Reilly. He also obviously cannot be short of a kwacha or two. He also must have lived in Zimbabwe for many years to own the 11 farms. Which makes one assume he was a Zimbabwean and not a South African at all, and did not plan on returning tomour country.
Is this a case of a broederbonder looking after another broederbonder as happened during the apartheid regime. We South Africans hace enjoyed corrupt Goverements for over 65 years now - first the Nats and now the ANC.
I hope our Goverenemt, dim as they are, contest this ruling. They should actuallt reclaim the money from Mugabe, another prize idiot.
What a bunch of incompetent imbeciles.
No we, the tax payer, have to fork out for the goverment's incompetence.
It also appears that the Judge, Pronsloo, is also a bit of a dummy.
von Abo, with 11 farms, was obviously doing very well thank you and living the life of O'Reilly. He also obviously cannot be short of a kwacha or two. He also must have lived in Zimbabwe for many years to own the 11 farms. Which makes one assume he was a Zimbabwean and not a South African at all, and did not plan on returning tomour country.
Is this a case of a broederbonder looking after another broederbonder as happened during the apartheid regime. We South Africans hace enjoyed corrupt Goverements for over 65 years now - first the Nats and now the ANC.
I hope our Goverenemt, dim as they are, contest this ruling. They should actuallt reclaim the money from Mugabe, another prize idiot.
4 Weeks ago bokpiel wrote :
Okay then, from what some of you idiots are saying then yes all the land owned by black africans in europe, asia, america etc be taken away from them because even though they may have paid for it with their hard 'earned' money they are theiving bast***s. This land does not belong to them and therfore should be taken away. They should be thrown into jail, totured and sent back to their native country. for those that own land and dont even live there, this land should be redistributed among the poor of those countries.
4 Weeks ago GF.A wrote :
black boy - actually the presidential family maintenance budget has just been increased to R336 Million per annum
4 Weeks ago Mtetwa wrote :
What you sow so shall you reap, thieves always howl the loudest when they get caught, but the truth is you can steal 99 times and get away with it but when you get caught you pay 99 times for each time you stole its not worth it i have no sympathy for these greedy land thieves
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