No white farmer in Zimbabwe was being left without land, and none of them wanted to leave the country, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe told the World Summit on Sustainable Development on Monday.
He used his speaking turn in a plenary of heads of state and government to defend his controversial land reform policies and launch a blistering attack on British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
”We do not mind having and bearing sanctions banning us from Europe. We are not Europeans. We have not asked for any inch of Europe, or any square inch of that territory.
”So Blair, keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe,” he said to laughter and applause.
Mugabe said that as his government acquires land for redistribution to black farmers, it would not deprive white farmers completely of land.
”Every one of them is entitled to at least one farm,” he said. ”No farmer is being left without land.”
Mugabe also said there was no-one who wanted to leave Zimbabwe, and claims about plans to ”uplift” whites who are allegedly under threat from his government were undeserved.
Such claims also represented interference in Zimbabwe’s domestic affairs, Mugabe said.
Meanwhile, The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers expressed his outrage about the continual undermining of the independence of the judiciary and attacks on the rule of law in Zimbabwe.
In a United Nations media statement on Monday, Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy said he was informed that Walter Chikwanha, a magistrate in Chipinge, Manicaland, had been assaulted and dragged out of court by a group of so-called ”war veterans”, supporters of President Mugabe, after he refused to place into custody several individuals, including five members of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
Cumaraswamy said that after attacking the magistrate, the group of individuals went after the lawyer who represented the MDC officials, Langton Mhungu, and vandalised his car. As a result, Mhungu and his family left Chipinge for Mutare.
In protest against these actions, magistrates and prosecutors in Manicaland went on strike from August 19 to 23.
”The provision of adequate protection to judges and lawyers when their safety is threatened is a basic prerequisite for safeguarding the rule of law,” Cumaraswamy said.
”This is simply fundamental, in order to guarantee the right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial tribunal and the protection of human rights.”
”The apparent failure to do so in this case represents a serious threat to the independent judicial system in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, this represents another example of the government of Zimbabwe’s continuing disregard for the independence of the judiciary and contempt for the rule of law. The assault on the magistrate within the four walls of his court house can only be viewed as a blatant attack on the rule of law.” – Sapa