These photos and information were sent to us by Trevor Gifford the President of the Commercial farmers Union in Zimbabwe.
The story is told best by the Harare Tribune reporter Tererai Kamrimakwenda and is presented in his article below.
Warning - Graphic Photos. We have been sent worse photos of Zimbabwe Citizens, black & White after beatins, torture & killings - but they are too horrific to publish.
The life of a farmer in contemporary Zimbabwe
By Tererai Karimakwenda (swradioafrica)
On the same afternoon that Robert Mugabe picked up a bible and swore to serve the people of Zimbabwe for another 5 years, ZANU-PF thugs descended on a commercial farm in the Chegutu area near Harare (Location), savagely beat up three farmers and abducted them.
They were Ben Freeth, who along with his in-laws Mike and Angela Campbell are challenging the Zimbabwe government’s land policy, at the SADC Tribunal in Namibia.
Earlier that day the same gang had brutally assaulted another farmer in the area, Frank Trott on Twyford Farm. He is part of the group of farmers who joined in with the Campbell case in Namibia. There are 14 of them in the Chegutu area alone.
John Worsley Worswick of Justice for Agriculture said the beatings were severe and Campbell suffered a broken collar bone, broken fingers and serious concussion. His wife Angela has an arm broken in two places, while one of Freeth’s eyes is so badly damaged it is causing the doctors great concern.
The three were found around midnight, after being dumped by the gang. Worswick said they had been beaten for a prolonged period of time during which they were forced to sign papers, promising that they would withdraw the Campbell case from the courts in Windhoek.
Worswick said: “Now obviously it has no force or effect on the case because they were forced to sign under extreme duress.”
Worswick said Freeth and the Campbells were attacked and abducted by ZANU-PF thugs led by Gilbert Moyo, who is notorious in the area for his violent attacks on farms. He arrived at their Mt Carmel farm on Sunday, with an armed gang that took the three into the house and beat them before forcing them onto a truck.
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The Campbells’ son Daniel tried to rescue them at some point, but was forced to stand down after at least 40 shots were fired by the heavily armed gang. Moyo’s name has been provided to the police in connection with several other cases of assault in the Chegutu area, yet he has never been arrested or investigated.
The farmers were targeted specifically because of the SADC case. The attack came just a day after the SADC Observer Mission to the runoff election concluded that the atmosphere was not conducive to holding free and fair elections.
Several other farmers in Chegutu who attached their cases to Campbell’s in Windhoek were also targeted, despite the fact that the Tribunal issued an interim order last year, that said the Zimbabwe government would not evict them or interfere with their operations, until their case is heard.
According to Worswick, the government wants to take Campbell’s Mt. Carmel Farm and he has fought eviction through the courts. But the government passed new laws stipulating that the Zimbabwe courts could no longer hear land cases, effectively taking away the farmers’ rights to challenge the illegal acquisition of their properties. This is why Campbell took his case to the regional courts in Namibia with the hope that he would finally get justice there.
Mhlanga added that Zimbabwe is essentially the key to economic stability in the region, and voiced concerns that military intervention and a growing belief that civil war is imminent, will only further dissuade foreign investors in the region and in Africa as a whole.
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