To anyone who cares – Ben Freeth
I write this in the wake of the recent letter I wrote to the Prime minister regarding “where Truth becomes the casualty.” The letter was about the widespread break down in the rule of law on the farms in Chegutu District.
It is time that the truth be told. Minister Welshman Ncube from JOMIC has now denied that there are any land invasions. If he were to come here right now he would see Minister Shamuyarira’s men busily reaping thousands of US dollars worth of Mike Campbell P/L sunflowers in broad day light with complete impunity using Mike Campbell P/L tractors on land that Mike Campbell P/L has court orders and international judgements protecting.
We have video footage of this and the looting of the other crops. Mike Campbell P/L did the land preparation; Mike Campbell P/L bought the fertiliser and seed and planted the maize and the sunflowers and fertilised them and weeded them; and now land invaders continue to reap thousands of US dollars each day of crops that they never sowed or did anything for. Day after day, week after week and now month after month this has continued since the 4 April 2009 when the invasion took place and they reaped the mango crop and the orange crop. Not a single mango, orange, maize cob or sunflower head has been able to be reaped by the owner from that date. The invaders are now interfering with the cattle and saying that the several hundred head of cattle on the property belonging to Mike Campbell P/L are now owned by Shamuyarira too!
Workers have been beaten, abducted and hospitalised; houses and sheds have been broken into; people have been terrorised; water has been cut off by the invaders for weeks and they have plunged the workers into darkness by cutting off their electricity as well; tens of thousands of productive fruit trees have been left without irrigation, fertilisation or spraying. .
Police know all about it and refuse to arrest anyone or even stop them despite the 2 High Court orders saying the invaders must be evicted and the SADC Tribunal judgement saying that Mike Campbell and his family and workers should be allowed to farm without disturbance.
The Honourable Professor has white-washed such situations by saying it is only where there are “eviction letters” and the farmer is not complying, that there are “land disputes.” There is not a farmer in the country who has not vacated immediately on being given an eviction order from a court. The alternative is jail. I challenge JOMIC to give just one example anywhere in the country where a farmer has not complied with an eviction order from a court. The disputes are taking place where people clutching offer letters are taking the law into their own hands and carrying out lawless acts with impunity such as what they are doing on Mount Carmel farm. Does JOMIC really believe that an offer letter gives the authority for invaders to take the law into their own hands and evict people and take their belongings?
How can a Government continue to condone theft and thuggery with lies and with silence in a starving country with no job creation and no investment taking place? How can the people continue to put up with this sorry situation? What sort of signal is it sending out to anyone wanting to grow food crops this coming summer or put any investment into the country? Why should donors be pouring their tax payers money into Zimbabwe to feed us when, with the re-establishment of the rule of law, we would be exporting food as we did when we had the rule of law prior to the farm invasions?
For the sake of everyone who believes in a future for themselves and their children, a full investigation needs to take place into why the law enforcers allow such nefarious activities to continue to go on in Zimbabwe with such impunity.
Ben Freeth
This letter, written by Ben Freeth, was circulated on the Justice for Agriculture mailing list
July 15th, 2009 14:02
Please sent the footage to Carte Blanche, they would love to show the world what a bunch of idiots they would be dealing with if ever they chose to invest in Zim http://www.carteblanche.co.za or http://www.mnet.co.za, my heart goes ot to the family
July 20th, 2009 13:47
Yes, there are many many ‘anyones’ out there who care, some of whom can make a difference to some of the decisions re Zim sometime. How vague that sounds. But the recording must continue in hope, and be spread far and wide. How brave these farmers are.
July 31st, 2009 04:44
Lest there still be any doubt in the minds of various Mugabe apologists, stealing white-owned farms is NOT about helping the poor, it’s about greed and power for a select few…
“MUGABE FAMILY’S LAND GRAB EXPOSED
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
29 July 2009
HARARE – Despite his frequent and vociferous claims that the land reform
programme was designed to give farming land to landless blacks, President
Robert Mugabe and his immediate family have been exposed as a multiple farm
owners.
The Mugabe family owns at least 10 large-scale commercial farms. Mugabe has
in the past said that even polygamous men should respect the ‘one family one
farm’ policy, which he and his polygamous inner cabal have flagrantly
violated.
Earlier this year Mugabe took ministers on a tour of Gushungo Dairy Estates,
formerly Foyle Farm which he grabbed from accomplished dairy farmer Ian
Webster, to show off the millions of dollars of state-of-the-art equipment
he had installed there. But he has kept very quiet about most of his farms,
presumably for fear of being exposed as a multiple farm owner.
Investigations have revealed that Mugabe also owns Highfield Farm on the
outskirts of Norton, while two nearby farms were acquired by the state to
create a security buffer zone.
Iron Mask Farm, next to Gushungo Dairy Estates, also belongs to the Mugabe
family although it is believed to be in the name of his wife, Grace.
Iron Mask was owned by the Matthews family and Grace was reportedly enticed
by their mansion farm house with Italian tiles. Despite government policy
not to sell equipment found on farms, Grace auctioned machinery at the farm
during a public auction.
As accusations of multiple farm ownership against the Mugabe family
increased, Grace tried to hoodwink the nation that she was building a home
for street kids at the farm. The project has been quietly forgotten.
Inquiries within the farming sector have revealed that the Mugabe family has
also taken over Sigaru Farm, Liverdale Farm, Bassil Farm and Mazowe Farm in
Mashonaland Central.
Grace is understood to be currently completing the formal takeover of a farm
in Mashonaland West which she wants to give to her son from her first
marriage, Russell Goreraza.
His father, Stanley was posted to China several years ago as a military
attaché before Mugabe helped himself to Grace.
Mugabe’s nephew, Leo Mugabe, according to divorce papers served on him by
his wife, has three large-scale commercial farms while younger brother,
Patrick Zhuwawo has two farms.
Mugabe’s sister Sabina was involved in a much-publicised farm grab in Norton
at the height of the farm invasions. It has not been possible to establish
yet which other farms have been quietly acquired by the Mugabes – but one
thing is certain, they have grabbed a large percentage of Zimbabwe’s best
arable land.”
January 28th, 2010 23:42
Do they realise that The Hague Tribunal will eventually get them? Mugabe is a black Hitler.