STEYN APPEALS THE RELEASE OF IMPOUNDED TANZANIA PLANE

By Our Correspondent, Johannesburg SOUTH AFRICA

A former Tanzanian farmer who got order from Gauteng High court and impounded a Tanzania airbus, Hermanus Steyn, has today appealed against the release of the Airbus 220-300 from Oliver Tambo International Airport; his lawyer has said.

Earlier today, a South African court in Johannesburg had ordered the release of a seized Tanzanian aircraft after over a week of detention at the airport.

According to the The Namibian-born Tanzanian farm owner’s lawyer, Roger Wakefield, his client has not agreed and is dissatified with the ruling and that the appeal is scheduled for hearing later today.

The court set aside the order to impound the aircraft and ordered further that the first respondents (Steyn) pays the costs.

The August 24 seizure of the plane followed a court application by a retired farmer to whom the Tanzanian government is to pay a compensation over a land expropriation to the tune of $13 million including interest.

Although Tanzania acknowledged the debt and initiated payments, the petitioner’s lawyers confirmed that since 2014, the farmer has not received any payment.

The impounding at the time was seen as a major blow for Air Tanzania, after inaugurating its Johannesburg services just two months earlier.

Tanzania, like a number of national fliers, have high hopes on the revival of the national airline.

A move targeted at transforming the country’s airline as a regional transport hub that is expected to stimulate the tourism sector, its largest source of revenue.

In the 1980s, Tanzania's government nationalized a massive, privately-owned bean and seed farm, seizing everything including equipment, 250 cars and 12 small planes.

The farm owner was awarded $33 million in compensation in the 1990s -- but the government only paid $20 million.

The outstanding balance of $16 million has accrued interest over the decades and now stands at $33 million, according to the lawyer who specializes in cross-border disputes.

The farmer has been fighting for years to get the outstanding amount.

He was then declared a prohibited immigrant in Tanzania on what his lawyer called "baseless grounds", and he now lives in another East African country.

The farmer approached lawyers in South Africa, which is party to an international convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards, in a bid to secure the remaining money.

"Literally after decades of broken promises, promises to pay, acknowledging the indebtedness, the plaintiff was left with no option, he came to me," Wakefield said.

He said the plane was seized "to certify a long outstanding debt to the plaintiff which the government of Tanzania has always acknowledged was owing but they just breached their undertaking".