Military

DATE=11/10/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-269094

TITLE=ZIMBABWE / COURT (L ONLY)

BYLINE=MARTIN RUSHMERE

DATELINE=HARARE

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The supreme court in Zimbabwe has ruled that the government has acted illegally by allowing takeovers of commercial farms that were not officially listed for seizure. Martin Rushmere in Harare reports the court ordered the government to clear the farms of hundreds of squatters.

TEXT: The court judgment is aimed at what the government calls its "fast track" resettlement of landless people on commercial farms. This has involved the occupation of dozens of farms not officially listed for seizure by the government.

The court has yet to decide the legality of the law that allows the government to seize farms without payment. President Robert Mugabe says that three-thousand farms will be taken by the end of the year.

While commercial farmers welcomed the court judgment to evict the squatters, they expect Zimbabwe authorities to take no notice. A senior official of the farmers' union said the government has ignored every order of the courts over farm occupations.

The court order comes one week before the arrival in Zimbabwe of a special representative of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Mark Malloch Brown. Mr. Brown is due to meet President Magus to discuss a plan for farm acquisitions that will benefit ladles people and comply with the rule of law.

President Magus came under more international pressure this week over the farm seizures. During an official visit to Zimbabwe by Denmark's minister for overseas development, the minister (Jan Trojborg) said Denmark wants a return to the rule of law and has cut its aid program to Zimbabwe by one-half in protest.

Mr. Trojborg said the visit by U-N special envoy Mark Malloch Brown is the last chance for Zimbabwe to save itself from economic collapse.

Most international agencies and Western donors have suspended aid to Zimbabwe because of concern over the government's disregard for law court decisions. (Signed)

NEB/MR/KL/JWH