Cape Town properties of the Zimbabwean Government are to be auctioned in July after a European bank group has also attached these properties recently identified by AfriForum.

The properties, located in Kenilworth, Zonnebloem and Wineberg, will respectively be sold by public auction on 23 and 27 July 2010 by the Sheriff of Cape Town.  Earlier this year AfriForum attached these properties after the High Court in Pretoria registered and enforced a cost order of the SADC Tribunal on 25 February 2010.

It has just become known that a European bank group, KFW Bank, now also has attached the same properties in order to collect a sentence debt of €40 312 717 (approximately R400 million) by means of public auctions.

The legal representative of AfriForum, Willie Spies, welcomed the proposed auctions.  "The aim of our legal actions is to keep on pressuring the Zimbabwean Government.  It is of great significance that private institutions are now also becoming involved in this legal battle, thereby increasing the pressure," Spies said.

These latest developments also make it even more difficult for the Zimbabwean and South African governments to intervene and push the legal processes aside.

The fact that the Zimbabwean Government owes a single European debtor more than R400 million, is proof of the bankruptcy of the country under the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe.  AfriForum will continue its struggle for justice in the Southern African region.

Statement issued by Willie Spies, Legal Representative: AfriForum, May 16 2010

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