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The Legal Monitor - Issue 30
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
February 01, 2010

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Scandal

Chipinge - A scandal is brewing after a Magistrate blocked the enforcement of a High Court order that would have resulted in him losing access to a farm that he received under the controversial land reform programme.

Chipinge Magistrate, Samuel Zuze last Tuesday convicted four farmers, Algernon Taffs of Chirega Farm, ZF Joubert of Stilfonten, Mike Odendaal of Hillcrest and Mike Jahme of Silverton Farm for refusing to vacate their properties.

Zuze did not mention that he is holding an offer letter, issued in November 2009, for Jahme's Silverton Farm when the men appeared before him and therefore had a direct interest in the case which, in normal circumstances, would have lead him to recuse himself considering the matter. Instead, Zuze went on to preside over the case, conficted and sentenced the farmers to a US$800 fine each, and ordered them to vacate their homes and farms by last Wednesday evening (24 hours' notice).

Zuze's ruling would effectively clear the way for him to move on to the property.

Not only did he block an attempt by the convicted farmers to then lodge an appeal against the conviction and sentence, but Zuze went further by ordering the arrest of Trevor Gifford, the immediate past president of the Commercial Farmers Union and Dawie Joubert, who had travelled to Chipinge on Thursday to serve the High Court order setting aside the eviction, according to the two farmers' lawyer, Trust Maanda.

The farmers' lawyer had approached the High Court because of the unreasonable nature of Zuze's order for them to vacate their properties at such short notice. The High Court granted the farmers' application by suspending their evictions.

But Zuze ordered the arrest of Gifford and Joubert in Chipinge as they tempted to serve the Notices of Appeal as well as the High Court order suspending the eviction on the Clerk of Court in Chipinge.

Maanda said that on the instructions of Zuze, the Clerk refused to accept and stamp the Notices of Appeal. And instead of complying with the High Court Order, issued by Justice Samuel Kudya, law officers arrested Gifford and Joubert for contempt of court.

"On 28 January the farmers who had been ordered to vacate the farms served the High Court order on Mr Zuze. The (High Court) order suspended the operation of his (Zuze's) ruling for eviction. It was after service of the order was effected on Mr Zuze that the police arrested Gifford and Joubert. The cause for their arrest is that they were in contempt of court: contempt in that they tried to have a notice of appeal issued by the Clerk of Court, tried to serve a letter on the Magistrate and caused a court order to be served on the Magistrate," said Maanda.

Maanda said Gifford and Joubert - arrested on Thursday - were now in police custody in Mutare after being transferred from Chipinge. Prosecutors allegedly refused to deal with the matter in Chipinge, due to the involvement of the resident Magistrate.

The State then failed to produce the two farmers in court in Mutare on Friday because the police vehicle transporting them to Mutare had no tyres. Efforts to have them appear in court on Saturday failed after police detectives told Maanda that they were not ready because they were still investigating the matter and still going through their statute books to find a "proper charge".

The lawyer expressed concern over the abuse of the justice delivery system in cases involving farm ownership wrangles. Maanda said that more worrying was the fact that Zuze is a beneficiary of a farm belonging to one of the farmers whose eviction he ordered, meaning he was both a player and referee in the case. Maanda said it was a grave assault on the proper administration of justice for Zuze to preside over a case in which he had a clear interest.

Zuze's instructions for Gifford to be arrested for delivering a High Court order unfavourable to the Magistrate was also a serious dent to the integrity of Zimbabwe's judicial system, Maanda said.

It also reinforces the perception that judicial officers who have taken up farms have compromised their independence.

Zuze is no stranger to controversy-in 2009 he convicted and sentenced Hon. Mathias Mateu Mlambo and Hon Meki Makuyana, the two MDC members of Parliament whose respective constituencies are in Chipinge. The two have since been suspended from Parliament by Austin Zvoma, the Clerk of Parliament pending the determination of their appeals in the High Court.

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