Abstract:
In 2011, the heads of state of the countries comprising the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) decided to dissolve the
SADC Tribunal, a regional court modelled on the European Court of
Justice. Four years earlier, the tribunal had ruled that the Zimbabwe
government’s expropriations of land owned by white farmers violated
the SADC Treaty principles on the rule of law and non-discrimination.
The tribunal ordered the government to refrain from interfering with
the farmers’ occupation and ownership of their properties. The government
ignored the court’s decisions and embarked on a campaign to
smash the tribunal and nullify its rulings. The SADC Summit was thus
confronted with the choice of backing either the Zimbabwe government
or the tribunal. By abandoning the court in favour of Harare,
it elevated the norms of solidarity and regime protection above the
democratic and legal principles espoused in the treaty. The head of the
tribunal, Judge Ariranga Pillay, denounced the summit’s decision as
‘worthy of potentates and kings who can do no wrong and who are not
accountable for their actions’ (Christie 2011a). This article first outlines
the relevant provisions of the treaty and the protocol governing the
tribunal and then discusses the scrapping of the regional court.
