27
3.4
Resorting to the law and the justice system
From the outset, the farmers sought the protection of the law and the courts, and, as seen below
in Table 12, there were highly unsatisfactory results.
Table 12
Legal actions taken.
Number[%]
Objected to designation
183[97%]
Contested in administrative
142[75%]
court
Conceded farm under duress
799[42%]
Forcibly evicted
139[74%]
Obtained court order
60[32%]
Number of court orders
254[mean:4.1; sd:12.2]
Virtually all the sample of the commercial farmers objected to the designation of their farms, but
not all attempted to defend this in the Administrative Court. A very high percentage [74%] was
forcibly evicted, but most did not concede their farms even under duress. As can also be seen,
only 32% obtained court orders to prevent interference with the activities of the farm, but it can
also be seen that those who did seek orders were forced, on average, to seek more than one
order.
The sample as a whole reported spending more than US$1 million on legal fees defending their
rights and attempting to obtain injunctions forcing the ZRP to protect themselves, their families,
their workers and their families [see Table 13 below].
Table 13
Seeking support from the police.
Number
Try to get police enforcement
71[38%]
of court order.
Number of times tried.
1.5[sd.5.9]
Was it successful?
12[6%]
Try to get police to stop
156[83%]
violence.
Number of times tried
4.01[sd.8.2]
Were police helpful?
60[32%]
Number of times were
210[mean:1.1]
helpful?
Police intimidated?
76[40%]
Sympathetic police
117[62%]
transferred.
A Preliminary Report on Human Rights Violations on Commercial Farms, 2000 to 2005.
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