WINDHOEK, Namibia — White farmers asked a regional court Thursday to hold the Zimbabwean government in contempt, saying government supporters were beating and harassing plaintiffs in a suit challenging Zimbabwe’s farm evictions.
Lawyers for Zimbabwe’s government walked out of the hearing in response to the contempt request.
The lawsuit filed with the Southern African Development Community’s tribunal by 78 white farmers asks that Zimbabwe’s farm eviction laws be overturned. Critics say the program helped turn the country from a regional breadbasket into a begging bowl. But the government says it was meant to benefit the country’s black majority.
The court did not immediately rule on the contempt request. The tribunal hears legal appeals from citizens of the regional bloc’s 14 member nations.
