Windhoek, Namibia  - A tribunal of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) began a group hearing in the Namibian capital Windhoek on Wednesday morning, in which 78 Zimbabwean farmers are challenging the expropriation of their farms.

Shortly after beginning the five-judge tribunal ordered a recess to consider a last-minute application by a group of around 200 new Zimbabwean farmers to intervene in the case.

At the end of March the tribunal, which has its headquarters in Windhoek, ordered the Zimbabwean government to halt the eviction of 73 farmers from their property.

It also granted the farmers and four others already evicted the right to have their cases heard Wednesday alongside that of William Michael Campbell.

Campbell was the first white Zimbabwean farmer to successfully apply to the SADC court last year for an urgent interdict to halt the seizure of his farm pending a full hearing in Zimbabwe on the legality of land seizures.

Campbell, one of only around 300 white farmers still working the land, had been facing criminal charges in Zimbabwe for refusing to vacate his farm.

Over 4,000 white farmers in Zimbabwe have had their land expropriated since 2000 when President Robert Mugabe gave ruling party members and cronies the nod to seize white-owned farms without compensation.

The invasions by war veterans (mostly youth militia rather than veterans of the country's war for independence from Britain) resulted in large-scale food shortages and a mass exodus of Zimbabweans to neighbouring countries.

The SADC tribunal, established in 1992, is tasked with ensuring that the bloc's 14 members respect the SADC treaty, which calls for respect for the rule of law, among other things. (dpa)