The leader of
the Sadc Tribunal Rights Watch expressed concern over government’s plans to
issue title deeds for farms grabbed in the chaotic land reform programme at the
turn of the century.
President
Emmerson Mnangagwa last year launched a new policy allowing beneficiaries of
the land reform programme to sell and be able to borrow from banks using the
land as collateral.
Some farmers,
including Mnangagwa have already received title deeds to the farms they are
occupying.
However, Freeth
said the farms had legally issued title deeds owned by former white commercial
farmers, smallholders and members of the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army.
“These title
deed owners have not been compensated for their land, despite having final and
binding court judgments which confirm that such original title deeds are still
bona fide,” he said.
Freeth said the
title deeds given to Mnangagwa and his cronies flew in the face of
international law and the Sadc Treaty of 1992.
“The final and
binding judgment of the Sadc Tribunal in the Campbell case, will render these
new ‘title deeds’ unbankable and, in the final analysis, worthless unless there
is first a full and fair settlement with the owners of the original title
deeds.
“In 2008, the
tribunal found for a group of Zimbabwean farmers on the basis that they were
deprived of their land without the right of access to the courts and the right
to a fair hearing, both of which are essential human rights.
“In this way,
the tribunal held that the Zimbabwe government breached the provisions of the
Sadc Treaty: Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd and Others v Republic of Zimbabwe
(November 28, 2008).”
Freeth added:
“As is the case with the various and numerous attempts to issue new currencies
in the Zimbabwean economy — there have been six attempts in 15 years to replace
the US dollar as the primary currency — these new ‘title deeds’ will become
worthless.
“We fully
support any initiative to issue bona fide title deeds on farms that have been
authentically bought by the Zimbabwe government and in communal areas where
Zimbabweans have never enjoyed the benefits that freehold title deeds accrue to
their owners.”
He applauded
the Rwandese government for issuing freehold title deeds to its citizens.
“We are
convinced that this, along with the firm establishment of the rule of law, is
the fundamental game changer which will allow Africa to overcome poverty.
“The current
move by the Zimbabwe government to issue what has been described by some as
‘counterfeit title’ will only create more confusion and stagnation in the
agricultural economy and in Zimbabwe generally,” he said.
Freeth said
government needed to return to the rule of law, re-establish justice system and
obey final and binding judgments such as the Campbell judgment of Sadc
Tribunal.
Meanwhile,
Freeth, in a presentation made in the United Kingdom recently, said, unlike in
the West, many places did not have title deeds at all in Africa.
“Rwanda has
undertaken this incredibly powerful transformation, but Zimbabwe has gone the
other way. They have taken titles away where title deeds had been in place and
the country had been developed on the back of title deeds.
“And so what I
would love to see is this type of title deed and a just system being
established in Zimbabwe. And from perhaps 10 000 title deeds being cancelled, a
million title deeds can be established within Zimbabwe,” he said. Newsday
Changu 
