by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG – THE Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI) has welcomed plans by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to revive its tribunal.
The revival of the SADC Tribunal was announced ahead of the bloc’s just-concluded summit in Madagascar.
The function of the tribunal is to ensure compliance with the rule of law, human rights, access to justice and good governance in the region.
SADC suspended the tribunal in 2011 after it ruled against Zimbabwe’s controversial reform programme that began 11 years earlier.
While it was suspended, the tribunal was never legally dissolved.
South Africa’s Constitutional Court condemned its closure as unlawful.
Additionally, the High Court of Tanzania ruled on the matter, finding the suspension of the tribunal inimical to the rule of law.
SAAI has therefore called on the SADC Committee of Ministers of Justice and Attorneys-General to speedily act on the matter of the reinstatement.
“SAAI has invited all stakeholders and role players in civil society and particularly in public office throughout the SADC region and beyond, to collaborate in achieving what is indeed ‘the long-awaited’ and overdue’ revival of the SADC Tribunal,” it stated.
The tribunal is the international court for SADC, which comprises Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Land is an emotive issue in the region.
Despite decades of independence, most of the land in a majority of the countries remain in the hands of the White minority.
The West slapped Zimbabwe with sanctions when it repossessed the land. South Africa is also under the scrutiny of the United States over efforts to address this imbalance.
– CAJ News
