Zimbabwean courts are expected to order the arrest of the country’s defence and police chiefs this week in a key test of the judiciary’s ability to rein in marauding security forces.

The most senior High Court judge is likely to order the arrest of the army commander, Lieutenant-General Philip Sibanda, and the police commissioner, Augustine Chihuri, for contempt of court after they failed to discipline an army officer who seized a white farmer’s land.

In a country where many now doubt even President Mugabe’s control over elements of the security forces, the order is unlikely to be obeyed.

Taking over white farms has been a hallmark of Mr Mugabe’s regime but the case of Charles Lock, 45, a professional agronomist and former Zimbabwe Test bowler, is unique.

He was the only white person to have been officially allocated his farm under Zimbabwe’s land laws without paying heavy dues to the ruling party.

When an army general, Justin Mujaji, invaded Mr Lock’s farm, Karori, in 2007, he had no grounds for taking the land apart from the threat of violence. It had been home to 120 workers and their families.

General Mujaji has forced Mr Lock and his workers off the farm three times, only for Mr Lock to fight his way back with court orders. He finally accepted his eviction after General Mujaji’s men allegedly shot and injured a farm worker, severely beat several others and raped a woman on the farm. But Mr Lock was determined to retain his assets from the property.

Twelve days ago Judge President Rita Makarau gave General Mujaji a fortnight in which to allow Mr Lock to remove his tobacco and maize crops and equipment from the farm in the rolling Headlands district 85 miles (135km) east of Harare.

The two commanding officers were ordered to ensure that General Mujaji complied. General Sibanda and Mr Chihuri already have contempt convictions against them for not disciplining General Mujaji last year.

“The judge will have no option but to order their arrest,” said a lawyer who asked not to be named. General Mujaji, the army’s director of sports, who has already taken three other farms, managed to evade arrest for contempt last year.

It is unlikely that the police will obey the order to lock up their own and the army’s commander, but the affair will be an unambiguous demonstration that the security forces have become a law unto themselves.

Zimbabwean courts have taken a tougher, more independent stance since a new power-sharing Government was formed in February, with the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, as Prime Minister. However, it is not certain that General Sibanda and Mr Chihuri take orders even from President Mugabe.

The courts have consistently sided with Mr Lock, who has been acquitted twice on charges of “illegal occupation,” meaning he cannot be charged again.

He also has the political backing of two of Mr Mugabe’s vice-presidents, the provincial governor and the region’s land redistribution authorities, but none of this has disturbed General Mujaji, who now has 15 armed soldiers on the farm, five of them barring entrance at the gate.

General Mujaji has threatened lawyers and a magistrate with violence, and police are terrified of taking action against him. Appeals to Mr Tsvangirai have proved fruitless.

The number of white farmers in Zimbabwe has fallen from 5,000 in 2000 to 300 today under Mr Mugabe’s relentless land grabs. Most live under constant and violent pressure of eviction, or pay off politicians of Mr Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party.

The seizure of farms, billed as an attempt to redress the racial imbalance of Zimbabwe’s colonial past, has become its route to economic ruin.

Mr Mugabe’s neighbours, particularly President Zuma of South Africa, are becoming agitated by his refusal to carry out democratic reforms in the deal with Mr Tsvangirai.

Since Judge Makarau gave her order, the general has been comprehensively looting Mr Lock’s crops, fertiliser and equipment.

“This is a military coup,” Mr Lock said. “Sometimes I would like to chuck it all up, when you have these guys [the soldiers] spitting at you and poking their guns in your tummy. But I can’t. I must take it to its finality.”

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