The auction of several Zimbabwe government owned properties in South Africa, seized to pay back South African farmers and a German bank, has been postponed, after the government challenged the legality of the sale.
The auction was meant to get underway on Tuesday, but the government’s legal representatives over the weekend filed an urgent application to halt the sale. The North Gauteng High Court on Monday postponed the auction, saying more time was needed by all respondents in the case, which has been set down for September.
Seven properties in the Western Cape and Gauteng were seized by German development bank KFW Bankengruppe in May, over the government’s failure to settle a multi-million dollar loan. The government, through the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Co Ltd (Zisco), entered into the loan agreement with the German bank in January 1998. Repayment of the loan was then meant to be done in 16 instalments starting from May 2000. But after only four payments, the last being in 2002, Zisco stopped paying, leaving the German bank with no other option than seek other means of repayment.
Civil rights group AfriForum is locked in a similar court battle with the Zimbabwean government, representing a group of farmers who lost land as a result of Robert Mugabe’s land seizures. Four other Cape Town properties were seized as part of the legal battle, and identified as Zimbabwean assets that could be auctioned off as possible compensation for the farmers. A 2008 regional ruling, declaring the land ‘reform’ program as ‘unlawful’ has been ignored and legally dismissed in Zimbabwe, leaving farmers with no choice but to seek justice elsewhere. Farmers approached AfriForum to have that same ruling, made by the human rights court of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), registered in South Africa.
Judge Garth Rabie in February ruled in favour of the farmers, stating that the SADC Tribunal ruling, including a later order to pay costs to the farmers, should be honoured. AfriForum has since been seeking what Zimbabwean assets can be attached to settle these costs and they identified four properties in Cape Town.
AfriForum’s legal representative, Willie Spies, explained that the court’s decision on Monday to postpone the sale of the Zimbabwean properties, affects their case too. He explained that the Zimbabwe government is arguing that all the properties are protected by diplomatic immunity and cannot be auctioned.
“Many of the properties are being used for commercial purposes and are not therefore protected by diplomatic immunity,” Spies said. “The Zimbabwe government is abusing court proceedings and it means Zimbabwe has developed into a rogue state.”