Dutch farmers dispossessed in Zimbabwe turn to international dispute court

Five years after their farms were taken by President Robert Mugabe's supporters, a group of 10 Dutch citizens who farmed in Zimbabwe have presented their case for compensation to an international tribunal in Paris.

Lands and security minister Didymus Mutasa appeared in the Paris court, despite a visa ban by the European Union on members of the ruling Zanu PF. The ban was temporarily lifted to allow him to travel to Paris to give evidence at the tribunal early this month. The hearings were closed to the media and the public. Mutasa is said to have admitted that the government wrongfully seized farms which belonged to Dutch citizens who considered Zimbabwe their home.

The farmers took their case to the Washington-based International Center for Settlement of the Investment Disputes, calling for the Mugabe government to admit breaching a bilateral investment treaty with the Netherlands. Mutasa admitted in court that the treaty had been broken. He defended the seizure of white-owned farms citing the colonial era in which he said the best agricultural land was taken by white settlers, mostly British.

The Paris court is considering what amount of compensation the Zimbabwe government should pay to this group of farmers. The court is expected to present its ruling on the amount of compensation the farmers should receive before March 2008.

If Mugabe's administration fails to pay compensation to the farmers, they would have the right to seize any Zimbabwe government property outside the country, including loans from the World Bank and export earnings.

There are an additional 50 farmers from Switzerland, Germany and Denmark whose lands have been seized and who are also preparing to go to the tribunal to get compensation. All of them come from countries that have similar treaties with Zimbabwe.

More than 4,000 white farmers and hundreds of thousands of their workers lost homes and incomes during the land seizures. The land grab began after President Mugabe suffered his first political defeat in 2000 when he lost a referendum for a new constitution that same year.

A source close to the Dutch farmers, who have now all left Zimbabwe, said they have claimed about $48 million (33 million euros).

British lawyer Matthew Coleman, who represented the farmers at the tribunal said, "The Zimbabwean government acknowledged that certain 'deprivations' had taken place without payment of compensation." He added that it would "pay compensation in full as and when it is able to do so."

Voice of America

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The Zimbabwean government's version of the tribunal proceedings:

The government has strongly opposed attempts by a group of 13 white farmers to reverse Zimbabwe’s land reform programme through scare-tactic lawsuits on the international stage.

Staking a claim to Dutch citizenship, the 13 farmers, who lost farms during the land redistribution programme, have taken Zimbabwe to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and are demanding 1,5 million euros for each farm lost as compensation.

The Minister ...Land Reform and Resettlement, Didymus Mutasa, yesterday said he recently appeared before the international tribunal in Paris, France, to defend the nation’s vital interests. Mutasa, who was accompanied by the Attorney-General, Mr. Sobusa Gula-Ndebele and a lawyer hired in France, appeared before the tribunal on 30 October.

The farmers presented their case on 29 October. On 31 October, members of the tribunal convened a hearing closed to the media and the public. "The tribunal sat over a course of three days and the claimants stated their case on the first day. On the second day, it was us and on the third day, the three-member tribunal asked both parties questions," said Mutasa.

The white farmers who took their case to the Washington-based ICSID are arguing that the government of Zimbabwe must accept liability for alleged breaches of a bilateral investment treaty with the Netherlands.

"The farmers want us to compensate them 1,5 million euros for each farm they lost because they are saying we violated a bilateral agreement with the Netherlands. But first of all, we said they were Rhodesians and not wholly Dutch. Secondly they had benefited a lot by being Zimbabweans and by farming in Zimbabwe. Thirdly, we are prepared to compensate them but on a Zimbabwean scale not an EU scale," said Mutasa.

Mutasa said the tribunal, which was presided over by a Pakistani, an American and a French national, appeared professional and objective. He said he was hopeful it would come up with a fair judgement.

The government has made it clear in the past that it will never compensate white farmers for the land, which was stolen from blacks in the first place. Many former commercial farmers have been compensated for improvements on farms such as buildings, roads and dams.

The development comes at a time when farmers from countries such as Denmark and Germany, which had bilateral treaties with Zimbabwe, are also preparing to go to the tribunal to seek compensation.

More than 4 000 white farmers lost land in 2000 when the Government embarked on the land reform programme aimed at empowering the landless black majority.

Most of the farmers who lost land were of British origin, hence the bilateral row between Zimbabwe and Britain which has culminated in the United States and the European Union joining hands with the British government to impose illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.

The Herald