Zim farmer beaten over land challenge

A ZIMBABWEAN farmer, whose farm expropriation case is set to resume at the SADC Tribunal in Windhoek this month, was abducted along with his family in Zimbabwe at the weekend.

They were and severely beaten and his assailants allegedly forced him to sign a paper declaring that he would withdraw the case. The case is set to resume on July 16, after it was postponed in May.Michael Campbell (75) suffered serious concussion, a broken collar bone and broken fingers.His wife Angela was also beaten, resulting in her arm broken in two places.Their son in law Ben Freeth, who tried to rescue the Campbells during the night on Sunday, has a badly swollen and totally closed eye.All three were thrown on a pick-up van at Campbell’s farm, Mount Carmell in eastern Zimbabwe.They were reported missing for the whole of Sunday, the organisation Justice for Agriculture (JAG) reported yesterday.Campbell senior, his wife Angela and Ben Freeth were released at around 01h30 yesterday at a house of a black woman at Kadoma, a small town in that farming district, according to JAG.”All three are safe now, undergoing medical attention,” JAG said in a press statement yesterday.The woman attended to their wounds as best she could.Freeth received a warning phone call from Campbell’s son Bruce on Saturday night, asking him to tell Campbell senior to get out immediately.Their farm house had been forcibly broken into by a mob, consisting of alleged war veterans and Zanu-PF youth militia.Freeth’s vehicle was blocked on the way to the farm.When Bruce Campbell arrived shortly afterwards, around 40 shots were fired at him, so he was forced to flee.Bruce then drove to Freeth’s farm house and told the wife, Laura Freeth and her children to escape through the back fence, which they did.According to JAG, the motivation for this brutal attack “is the fact that Messrs Campbell and Freeth are the architects and at the forefront of the SADC Tribunal litigation”.A total of 77 farmers countrywide are challenging the validity of their government’s land grab.All the 77 farmers, including Campbell, should be enjoying interim protection from farm expropriation in terms of the SADC tribunal ruling in Windhoek earlier this year.The Zimbabwean government legal representative had said his client would abide by the interim ruling.According to JAG’s press statement, “sadly the protection is not [being] done and that farming area is patently being targeted as a direct result of this important and benchmark international law case”.The case is set to resume on July 16, after it was postponed in May.Michael Campbell (75) suffered serious concussion, a broken collar bone and broken fingers.His wife Angela was also beaten, resulting in her arm broken in two places.Their son in law Ben Freeth, who tried to rescue the Campbells during the night on Sunday, has a badly swollen and totally closed eye.All three were thrown on a pick-up van at Campbell’s farm, Mount Carmell in eastern Zimbabwe.They were reported missing for the whole of Sunday, the organisation Justice for Agriculture (JAG) reported yesterday.Campbell senior, his wife Angela and Ben Freeth were released at around 01h30 yesterday at a house of a black woman at Kadoma, a small town in that farming district, according to JAG. “All three are safe now, undergoing medical attention,” JAG said in a press statement yesterday.The woman attended to their wounds as best she could.Freeth received a warning phone call from Campbell’s son Bruce on Saturday night, asking him to tell Campbell senior to get out immediately.Their farm house had been forcibly broken into by a mob, consisting of alleged war veterans and Zanu-PF youth militia.Freeth’s vehicle was blocked on the way to the farm.When Bruce Campbell arrived shortly afterwards, around 40 shots were fired at him, so he was forced to flee.Bruce then drove to Freeth’s farm house and told the wife, Laura Freeth and her children to escape through the back fence, which they did.According to JAG, the motivation for this brutal attack “is the fact that Messrs Campbell and Freeth are the architects and at the forefront of the SADC Tribunal litigation”.A total of 77 farmers countrywide are challenging the validity of their government’s land grab.All the 77 farmers, including Campbell, should be enjoying interim protection from farm expropriation in terms of the SADC tribunal ruling in Windhoek earlier this year.The Zimbabwean government legal representative had said his client would abide by the interim ruling.According to JAG’s press statement, “sadly the protection is not [being] done and that farming area is patently being targeted as a direct result of this important and benchmark international law case”.