The Admissibility of Subregional Courts’ Decisions before the African Commission. .. 251 do not provide that the Tribunal has jurisdiction on specific disputes,72 nor do they exclude from the jurisdiction of the Tribunal any dispute under any field of law.73 To ascertain the Tribunal’s jurisdiction over a given dispute, one needs to examine whether SADC has legal instruments that govern the area of the dispute, because the Tribunal has jurisdiction over instruments applicable in SADC.74 75 The Tribunal has jurisdiction over human rights because SADC has human rights instruments that include the Charter of Fundamental Social Rights and the Protocol on Gender and Development. The Tribunal itself confirmed that it has jurisdiction on human rights in Mike Campbell (Pvt) Limited v Zimbabwe15 In the Campbell case, the SADC Tribunal entertained a case in which the government of Zimbabwe compulsorily acquired agricultural land on the basis of constitutional amendment that vests ownership of acquired land in the State of Zimbabwe and sets aside the jurisdiction of courts to question the legality of such compulsory acquisition. The agricultural lands were mainly acquired from white owners who, for reasons attributable to colonial history, happened to own large tracts of land suitable for agriculture. The applicants submitted that the enactment and implementation of the constitutional amendment violated the SADC Treaty. They also alleged that they were denied access to justice and compensation for their land as well as equal treatment. The respondent state challenged the jurisdiction of the Tribunal over the matters. In confirming its jurisdiction, the Tribunal relied on Article 21(b) (the Protocol on Tribunal and Rules of Procedure Thereof) which requires reference to ‘treaties, general principles and rules of public international law and any rules and principles of the law of States.’ The Tribunal held that it ‘has jurisdiction in respect of any dispute concerning human rights, democracy and the rule of law.’76 According to some commentators, the SADC Tribunal has competence to interpret even non-SADC instruments.77 The subject-matter jurisdiction of the 72 See generally the SADC Treaty; The Protocol on Tribunal and the Rules of Procedure Thereof, adopted on 7 August 2000 in Windhoek, Namibia by the SADC Heads of State and Government and entered into force on 14 August 2001, reproduced in Ebobrah & Tanoh , supra note 6, p. 375. 73 Compare art 27 (2), EAC Treaty where the Treaty confers human right jurisdiction on the court and suspends it. 74 See Article 16 of SADC Treaty and Article 14 of the Protocol on Tribunal and the Rules of Procedure Thereof. 75 Mike Campbell (Pvt) Limited and Others v Zimbabwe (2008) AHRLR 199 (SADC 2008). 76 Ibid, para 32. 77 Mmatsie Mooki ‘African regional courts and their role in the promotion and protection of human rights: The Southern African Development Community