White landowners in Zimbabwe have won an eleventh-hour reprieve from being evicted from their land.
Around 3,000 farmers were due to vacate their property by midnight tonight under a law passed by President Robert Mugabe.
However, Zimbabwe’s High Court has ruled that a mortgaged farm could not be seized unless the lending institution had been informed.
President Robert Mugabe passed a law in May giving the farmers 45 days to stop operating and another 45 days to leave their land and make way for black settlers. The deadline was set to expire at midnight tonight.
President Mugabe says the land seizures are meant to make amends for British colonialism, where 70% of the best farmland was white-controlled.
Today’s landmark High Court decision ruled that the state could not confiscate land owned by white farmer Andrew Kockett, because it had not informed the National Merchant Bank, which has a mortgage registered over the property.
