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Tonight, civil rights organisation, AfriForum, will announce action steps in its campaign to protect human rights and respect for the law in Southern Africa at a function in Bloemfontein.

This follows after it was decided at the summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to significantly curtail the powers of the SADC tribunal and to exclude the adjudication of human rights issues from the court’s mandate.

Ministers of justice of countries in Southern Africa recently suggested amendments to the protocol that stipulates the functions of the tribunal. They specifically removed the adjudication of human rights issues. Henceforth, the SADC tribunal will only have the power to resolve disputes between states in Southern Africa.

The SADC tribunal made international headlines in November 2008 when it found that the Zimbabwe ground-grab programme was racist and illegal. Shorty after, the tribunal also decided in favour of a black commercial farmer, Luke Tembani, who was driven from his ground.

Willie Spies, legal representative of AfriForum, said in a statement that it was tragic that leaders of SADC countries had allowed themselves to be led by the nose by the corrupt Zimbabwe regime to restrict the SADC tribunal’s powers. This sends the message that Southern African governments do not care about human rights violations perpetrated by their fellows from the struggle years.

‘Whenever a human rights court decides against a government, that court’s powers are summarily curtailed,’ said Spies.

AfriForum’s action plan will be launched tonight from 18:00 at the Willow Lake Protea Hotel, in Bloemfontein.

The occasion is open to the press and the public.