Maravi

(NYASATIMES) Peter Mutharika to deliver justice in Zimbabwe land case

Peter Mutharika to deliver justice in Zimbabwe land case
By Nyasa Times
January 5, 2011

Malawi Education Minister Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika has told state broadcaster MBCTv he is confident that a jury of three learned law experts will deliver justice when a case involving a German investor’s family and Zimbabwe government of land dispute starts.

Professor Mutharika is an International economic and comparative constitutional law expert.

“I am happy that the International Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) which is part of the World Bank which looks at ways to arbitrate disputes on investment has called me into duty…My challenge will be to see that justice prevails,” Mutharika said on television monitored by Nyasa Times.

Peter Mutharika: Justice will prevail

The intellectual Mutharika was quick to point out that the appointment was in his personal capacity and not because he is a Minister or Government official.

“No no no…this appointment has been made in personal capacity…I have been part of the arbitrators in the ICSID since 1996 way back before I became a Minister…so this is in my personal capacity,” he said.

German investors, the von Pezold family sought assistance of the Paris-based ICSID in July after its three farms –Makandi Tea and Coffee Estate, Border Timbers Estate and Forester Estate in Zimbabwe’s Manicaland province (east)– were invaded by members of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party in June.

In case number ARB/10/15, Bernhard von Pezold and others are suing the government of Zimbabwe for loss of income during the three-week-long stand-off between the German investors and marauding gangs from Mugabe’s party.

[Their serfs should sue them for wage theft. - MrK]

According to the ICSID website, the court has appointed Peter Mutharika in the tribunal to be headed by Canadian lawyer Yves Fortier to hear the von Pezold application for damages. Also in the tribunal is New Zealand’s David Williams.

Mutharika who is a kid brother of Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika has vast experience in law. He has also been endorsed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to be its torch bearer in 2014 presidential elections.

The German investors are accusing the Zimbabwean government of failing to act against the illegal occupants who claimed they were allocated the properties under Mugabe’s controversial land reform programme.

Harare only ordered the armed mob off the farms after the German government threatened to withhold aid to Zimbabwe, which totalled more than US$50 million in 2009.

The illegal land occupiers are believed to have looted maize and other crops valued at more than US$1 million since moving onto the farms on June 18.

The properties are covered by a Bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement (BIPPA) between Zimbabwe and Germany in 1995, but which came into force in 2000.

“We will look at all the submissions presented and I can assure you that justice will prevail. The German investors family have appointed their lawyers and Zimbabwe government will have their representation too,” Mutharika told MBCTV.

Established in 1966, this institution of the World Bank Group provides facilities for the conciliation and arbitration of investment disputes between member countries and individual investors.—(Reporting by Ellen White, Nyasa Times)

Labels: LAND REFORM

posted by MrK @ 1:07 AM