Black Zimbabwean farmer must wait to learn fate

THE SADC Tribunal yesterday reserved judgement in the case of a 71-year-old black Zimbabwean commercial farmer fighting eviction from his farm by the country’s agricultural bank.

This follows the tribunal granting Luke Tembani interim relief from eviction six weeks ago because the Zimbabwean government failed to file a responding affidavit. Tembani, one of Zimbabwe’s first black commercial farmers, has owned Minverwag Farm for 24 years, but faced eviction on May 21 2009 after the Zimbabwean government sold his farm to recoup a loan. Tembani, his farmworkers and their families were supposed to have left the farm by then, but the interim order has halted their eviction. The farmer took out a loan with the Agricultural Bank of Zimbabwe (ABZ) more than 10 years ago to increase his production. He defaulted on part of his loan repayments after interest on loans soared after 1997, when Zimbabwe’s economic crisis started unfolding and its currency dramatically lost value.According to Tembani’s court application, ABZ sold the farm for six million Zimbabwe dollars in 2000 without the matter having been heard by a court. Luke Tembani’s lawyer, Jeremy Gauntlett, said his client had heavily invested in the farm, including in a school, and that a bank official could not decide to repossess property without such a matter being brought before a court.In response, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Attorney General Prince Machaya argued that not all legal avenues had been exhausted in Zimbabwe to resolve the case. It could take a few weeks for the SADC Tribunal to make a ruling.