Court backs Zimbabwe land seizures

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's Supreme Court has ruled that President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reform programme is legal.

In its judement, the court ruled four to one that Mugabe's land programme was "lawful and that the rule of law prevails in the commercial farming areas," which have been invaded by militants.

Observers say the ruling gives the government badly needed cover for its seizures of white-owned farms.

The court, now headed by a close associate of the Zimbabwean leader, also censured a lawyer who argued that the case had been packed with newly-appointed judges, and who asked the chief justice to recuse himself over his support for Mugabe's land reform.

A spokesman for the white Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said farmers were surprised and disappointed by the decision.

"The ruling does not seem to be based on the strict application of the law or the rules of natural justice, but on a political argument," he told Reuters.

"We are obviously surprised and shocked by this because this is the highest court. But we hope the government will still find the wisdom to be reasonable," he said.

The ruling, delivered by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, followed an order given by the court in October that the government should proceed with its land reform scheme pending the court's main finding on the plan's legality.

The government had appealed against a Supreme Court order made in December last year prohibiting the state from acquiring white-owned farmland for black resettlement until it produced a "workable programme of land reform."

The court cleared Mugabe's government -- which had been found guilty by previous courts -- of breaking the law by allowing violent farm invasions by its supporters, saying the government was taking steps to restore law and order.

"To expect the applicant to bring a totally crime-free environment in the commercial farming areas of Zimbabwe would be inconsistent with the concept of the rule of law and its practical application," it said.

The Supreme Court said government papers showing that white farmers occupied 14 million hectares of 33 million hectares (35 million out of 81.5 million acres) of Zimbabwe's farmland - and used only 40 percent of that, while many blacks had no land -- justified the reforms.

"The land reform programme is a matter of social justice and not strictly speaking a legal issue," it said.

Nine white farmers have been killed, scores of black farm workers have been assaulted and thousands of others displaced since pro-government militants began occupying white-owned farms in February last year in support of Mugabe's land programme.

Farmers and other critics say Mugabe has largely ignored a Nigerian-brokered plan he endorsed in September to end the farm seizures in exchange for funds from former colonial ruler Britain and other sources to implement a fair land reform plan.

In his ruling, Justice Chidyausiku attacked CFU lawyer Adrian de Bourbon for asking him not to preside over the land case, saying the advocate simply disliked his political background.

Chidyausiku, a former deputy minister in Mugabe's cabinet, rejected charges he was biased against the farmers and refused to remove himself from the case.

Political analysts say Mugabe, 77, in power since the former Rhodesia gained independence in 1980, is using the radical land reform programme as part of a campaign to retain power in presidential elections due by April 2002.