A Robertson farmer with property interests in Zimbabwe wants Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe prosecuted in South Africa for alleged crimes against humanity.
Richard Barry on Wednesday called for Mugabe’s arrest and prosecution in terms of an international statute which South Africa adopted as law last month.
It allows perpetrators of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide to face prosecution in South Africa under certain circumstances.
The announcement was made at a press conference in the
Democratic Alliance’s offices in Parliament.
Mugabe’s representative, George Charamba, was not available for comment.
DA justice representative Dr Tertius Delport said Barry’s affidavit would be faxed to National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka and the original would be lodged with the provincial
director in Cape Town.
Delport said he believed that Mugabe’s actions against white farmers in Zimbabwe constituted a crime against humanity in terms of the definition section of the Rome Statute.
The Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Bill was adopted by the South African Parliament this year and came into force on August 16.
”The Act stipulates if any of those crimes are committed against any South African citizen anywhere in the world, that perpetrator is subject to the South African courts to be heard here and tried
here in South Africa by our own courts,” Delport said.
Mugabe had committed a crime against humanity against a South African citizen, Delport charged.
”I contend that this complaint is a valid one, that our courts have jurisdiction over Mr Mugabe and that the proper course of action would be to arrest him.”
In terms of the law, Mugabe would not be able to use the fact that he was a head of state as a defence.
The definition of a crime against humanity made it quite clear that any ”persistent persecution of a collectivity by a state or by a person constitutes such a crime, if inhumane means of achieving a
certain goal was used”, Delport said, adding Mugabe had targeted the white farming community.
Delport, who on at least two occasions referred to Zimbabwe as Rhodesia, said he had no doubt in his mind that the methods used by the Zimbabwean government was ”inhumane”.
The trauma, injuries and death caused constituted a crime against humanity.
Delport denied the charge against Mugabe was trivialising crimes against humanity as experienced in Bosnia and Rwanda.
”You get degrees in all of these crimes.
”Must we go to the extent of what we saw in Bosnia, before we take any steps? Surely not. How do we know how this is going to end? What is the next step? We do not know. That is why I have no doubt in my mind that this is a crime against humanity.”
Delport acknowledged that there had been worse cases of crimes against humanity in terms of number of people and atrocities, ”but what we are experiencing now, whether you were in a death camp in Nazi Germany, or whether you were forced off land and maybe even killed on your own farm, makes no difference to the victim”.
”It’s part of an orchestrated effort to achieve illegal objectives by abusing the state’s power.”
Foreign Affairs representative Ronnie Mamoepa told Sapa that any head of state attending the earth summit had diplomatic immunity.
He would not comment further, but did say that Mugabe had already left South Africa.
NDPP spokesman Sipho Ngwema was not in an immediate position to comment. – Sapa