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Saturday, June 27, 2009

Zimbabwe: Ten Years of hell – Why nobody said a word…

I used to be extremely upset about why nobody seemed to be outraged by what happened to the whites in Zimbabwe.


It used to make me so angry I could scream, but I’ve learned a lot since then. I now know why the West operates the way it does. I once, in a state of fury, arranged to see the American Military Attaché in Pretoria and we had lunch off the record. He agreed to see me and we chatted. He was a Colonel in the US Army, and when I met him, he was sitting reading an Afrikaans newspaper. I was amazed. So I asked him how it was that he could read Afrikaans, and he told me that they had sent him on a course in LA and he had studied Afrikaans before taking up his position here. We talked. He was very courteous and I actually enjoyed his company, until I began telling him about the way I saw things going on here politically, and then a smirk crossed his face. He was very skeptical of what I had to say. And it was that smirk, which irritated me forever thereafter. When we parted company he told me: If there is anything we need to know in the future, then contact us. I never did, and I never intended to either. I do think that he did do something for me, and if he did, what I thought he did, then I am grateful to him for saving me. I do think my visit was not totally worthless, but running to the Americans again and again is not something I intend doing. I only went to see him out of desperation. All such contacts are reported, and the materials I gave him were no doubt kept and written up, and perhaps joked over… who knows. Not that I care. Since then, I still take pride in the fact that most everything I warned of him of came true.

But during my discussion with him, I openly asked him about why nobody sorts out Mugabe militarily. In fact, since then, a number of people I know, including blacks who visited the American embassy, openly asked America for military support to overthrow Mugabe. The Americans never showed any interest in this. What he told me to my face though was that all problems “would be sorted out diplomatically”. Of course, you could argue that America would never be foolish enough to tell people off the street: “Sure, we’re going to attack Mugabe”. But I think, over the years the Americans have proven their bona fides in this matter. What the Americans say, they do. They no doubt spy a lot on Zimbabwe – of that I have no doubt. I have no doubt that CIA agents are moving around Zimbabwe and that lots of intelligence reports are generated there daily. But spying is one thing, doing something is different.

In order to understand Globalism, you need to understand a few basic foundational facts, which I will disclose to you as I revisit this concept. The first concept you must get in your head is that post-World War II, the West has been so freaked out by what war can do, plus they have been EVEN MORE FREAKED OUT by the time when the Soviets set out to FOMENT WORLDWIDE COMMUNIST AND TERRORIST REVOLUTION (some of which is still running to this day). The British were the ones who laid the groundwork for the Western Globalism that followed. The British decided they could not fight everyone everywhere to maintain their empire. The British decided to dismantle their empire while trying to retain control and friendly relations. Thus the British created the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth doesn’t sound like an Empire but it is Britain’s neo-colonial way of trying to keep the Empire or parts of the Empire under their influence. Remember, influence is not control, but it is the 2nd best option.

Globalism is merely the same policy, adopted as the strategy of the West. The West can’t run the world, but it can influence it and it does so, under the propaganda of Globalism. This America, which previously was not a colonial power became a neo-colonial power – the countries of the most interest to it in Africa are: South Africa, DRC & Nigeria.

Most crucially, Globalism is a Peace System. There used to be a War system. But the War System has been abandoned because the War System can do more harm than good to the West. The Russians and Chinese would like the War system to continue, but the West’s grip on the world is too tenuous, and the Russians and Chinese could succeed. So the West has opted for the Peace System. They try to hold things together by preventing conflict because war can be their undoing. The Middle East since 1990 is a special exception to the Peace System, and we will discuss it later. Globalism is about Peace, because if war starts, and if wars grow, they will go out of control, and the West will be the biggest loser – or that is their perception.

This is why the West goes and firmly attaches its lips to the backsides of terrorists, Communist Dictators and Mass Murderers who massacre their own people while crying “Democracy”.

Southern Africa could explode into a massive black on black war which then merges with a racial war on top of it… and all of southern Africa could burn to the ground. A war in Zimbabwe could easily spread to neighbouring countries, especially South Africa and burn the whole place down, and we’d fight for the next 20 years. (Personally, I don’t think that’s such a bad idea… I quite like the idea actually…I’d like to get a chance to kill some of our enemies). The Western world doesn’t want this because it would completely mess up 50 years of painstaking Globalist activity in Africa. Their tenuous, mediocre successes in Africa would be damaged overnight and they would lose their accesses to countries, to minerals, etc. It would strengthen the hand of terrorists, of the Russians and the Chinese, and it would be a bigger debacle than in the Middle East.

No, the ANC does not want war in Zimbabwe. The Globalists don’t want war either. China has military bases there just in case. I am convinced that the anti-communist forces would do well actually, and if there was a race war in South Africa, the whites, if some of them actually decided to stand and fight, would do pretty well. However, the fact is that the West isn’t interested in this. It is all too risky, and will do too much damage to their carefully calculated penetration and manipulations of people in Africa.

The West is somewhat genuine in their desire for Democracy among Black Africans, and the West prefers to pull the “democracy strings” behind the scenes. This is a long term game, and the West is in no rush to spend money on tricky courses of action which won’t result in anything substantial. The West did want the MDC to win, but the MDC lacked the ability to stand firm, and it was the MDC which, for once, was the weaker link. The MDC then decided to merge with Mugabe. It was a mistake. The West will support the MDC because the MDC is the voice of the masses of Zimbabwe.

But when you think of Globalism, think of a Peace System versus a War System. That is the basic approach. The aim is to use secret, cunning, tricky, political and economic methods to achieve what is needed. Napoleon invented the Continental System back in the 1800s against Britain. It failed. But Britain and America are now using the same concept. Globalism is a club where countries work together applying the principles of Napoleon’s Continental System – but they’re applying it ACROSS THE WORLD. It is a way of exerting pressure and fighting without actually fighting. They use it against smaller nations who are susceptible to such pressures.

But in reality, the aim is to suck other people into the club because the bigger the club is, the more power it has, so the West ignores the crimes of globalist members. The West knows Nelson Mandela is a terrorist and the ANC are terrorist scum. They know it all. It is something I must discuss too. I think the West has a special reason why they ignore the crimes of Nelson Mandela and why the Americans continue to promote Nelson Mandela as a great forgiver. I think it is a very special type of psychological warfare aimed at Nelson Mandela himself, to force him to be something he is not, and never was, but there is a reason for it.

Robert Mugabe perceived early on, and the British were keen to suck him into the Globalist club. They hoped it would make a decent person of him, but he went and murdered 30,000 of his own people anyway. But they want Zimbabwe, like South Africa to be a good member of the Globalist club. South Africa has only become a member of the Globalist club since 1994. Prior to that the Afrikaners showed the Globalists the finger and that was why the West demonized them so much. The ANC are tolerated because the ANC and Mugabe are willing to be members to some degree. The West will accept anyone into the globalist club no matter what sort of mass murderer, hard core communist, blood-thirsty thief he is. They will welcome him into the family, and will say nice things about him in the media in order to try to win him away from Russia and China. If Russia offers him missile systems, the West will offer him money. The Americans and the West will sit and chat to most blood thirsty murderer and communist, muslim fiend from hell. They’ll have tea with him even as blood is dripping from his hands on to their carpet. They’re busy playing a bigger game. The game is to bring everyone into the globalist club. Fidel Castro, Ian Smith or PW Botha were not interested in the globalist club. But, FW De Klerk, Mandela and Mbeki were a part of it. Zuma, for the sake of his own survival, is playing a game of duplicity with them.

This should give you all some idea of Globalism. I will explain the links to business later. Globalism is a Govt level policy. It has a proper rationale behind it, and it is the supreme strategy of the West. The West knows Mugabe is a communist terrorist just as they know that Nelson Mandela is a terrorist too. But they’re playing a bigger game, and that game is for INFLUENCE of the world and to keep America and the West at the No 1 spot. That’s the game, and that’s the objective. The UN is just one of the tools they created. So don’t think that Globalism is based on any particular value, except that it is about keeping the West in first place and seeing to it that Russia, the No 2 challenger, doesn’t win the entire world on to its side. Jan]

Hi All

The story below is what has been happening to all white farmers in Zimbabwe since year 2000, for many it has been a lot worse and resulted in death from stress or just murder.

Stopping the invasions of the last farms and the persecution of whites is the one thing that he will not relent on, this all was mostly just revenge for loosing the 1999 referendum and the financial support given to the then new MDC party.

The International Communitee must not give financial support to anything but health care matters and to the legal defence funds that have been set up to pay for the legal costs of farmers and the people who have been abused by the ZANU PF government, this until we have irreversible unbiased law and order back.

Gerry Whitehead

SUMMARY OF THE CAMPBELL-MORRISONS LAND CASE

2nd June 2009

Last week, on the 27th May, my husband, Ian-Guy Campbell-Morrison, and his company, Vumba Coffee Estates (Pvt) Ltd, were found guilty, sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined US$800 for contravening Section 3(3) of the Gazetted Lands (Consequential Provisions), Act, Chapter 20:28.. His crime, "occupying state land without a permit (very few of which have been given to white farmers) from the lawful authority". His trial started in March 2009 and was heard by magistrate Mr Billard E. K. Musakwa and State prosecutor, Malvern Musarurwa. This all when the government of national unity (GNU) has said it wants farmers to prepare for the coming winter season and the country is appealing for food aid.

The State prosecutor (Musarurwa) blatantly read from a paper called "Handling Land Cases" written by the Chief Magistrate, Mr H Mandeya on 30th January 2009. This is the outline for how all land cases should be handled, what evidence can be permitted and what will be considered and what questions to ask the accused. There is a chapter called "lawyer's tactics".

Included here is " Reports received show that the following tactics have been used to delay finalisation of prosecutions under Chapter 20.28 and to confuse courts" It is frightening enough that the Chief Magistrate can be so blatant as to write and distribute a paper like this but there are comments in it like.. "An uphill struggle indeed!" and "Another trick is to refer to case law which properly speaking is distinguishable on the facts of the case at hand. Watch out!" The State case clearly followed the paper and no other defences were considered

Prosecutor Musarurwa got very agitated when the lawyer brought up the fact that these cases are racial and that according to Amendment number 19 all citizens, no matter what race, creed or religion should be treated equally and allocated land. He said there were no "white" people unless they were sick and no "black" people unless they were dead. The magistrate agreed with him and they had many giggles about this.

Mr Musakwa appeared rather confused on several occasions. The prosecution had been talking about Amendment number 17 (upon which the whole land eviction is based) and then our lawyer mentioned Amendment number 19 and Musakwa said "Why are you now talking about number 19 when we are only considering Amendment 17?" And the lawyer had to politely say that number 19 superseded 17 (a basic understanding of the law!). After many mentions of the Beattie case in Musakwa's final summing up he talked about the Beetle case! Does he not even remember the proper case names. After finding my husband guilty he put him in the holding cell at the court till after lunch for the sentencing. After lunch, in a packed courtroom (a lot of our friends were there) he said he had not had time to work out the sentence and that we should return the next morning for sentencing and in the meantime my husband was to spend the night in remand. Now this is not part of the law and there were several lawyers in the court (including a human rights lawyer) who were horrified with this unnecessary action by Musakwa. It is not a requirement of the law and was designed to frighten us and to send a clear message to the other 3 farmers facing trial for the same "crime" in Mutare with Musakwa

That one night in remand was an awful experience for him. He was shackled to another criminal at the court, taken in the back of an open bakkie to the remand prison where he was put into a filthy cell with about 80 other criminals. The cell was designed to hold 30-40 people. They had to line up to sleep and turn over at the same time as there was very little space. The ablutions were disgusting, the cell full of lice and the food uncooked mealie meal and very little of it. The next morning I had to pay $30 to the area prosecutor to use his bakkie again to collect the prisoners from the jail as the jail had no transport. My husband spent most of the next day inside the holding cell at the court until he was returned to remand to be released. The prison officers were very polite and helpful.

From 2000 when the land reform programme started our family has lost 900ha of land in the Vumba and were left only with 100ha property known as Eggardon Hill. No compensation has been paid by the govt for the developments on any of these properties.

Musakwa's judgement also comes after the SADC Tribunal ruled in Windhoek in November 2008 in favour of Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd and 78 other farmers that joined him. SADC declared that the Zimbabwean government may not continue with the eviction of white farmers, must pay them compensation for farms taken and also declared Amendment no 17 (and thus the basis of the land grab) illegal. It also declared the Fast Track land Reform Programme racist.

The Deputy AG Prince Machaya acknowledged before the SADC tribunal that
the treaty was binding to the Zimbabwean government, but the Acting
Attorney General, Johannes Tomana, has chosen to ignore this

It was against this background that we went into court on 20th March
2009.

Our lawyer asked for the case to be recused from Magistrate Musakwa and Prosecutor Musarurwa as they had both attended a meeting (along with the state witness, Nixon Kutsaranga) at 3 Brigade army barracks in Mutare on 10th Feb 2009. Although Mr Musakwa did not commit perjury by denying he was at that meeting, he did say it was pure speculation and hearsay and he could not recuse the case on these grounds. The lawyer also asked if the case could be referred to the Supreme Court (denied by Musakwa) and deferred awaiting a ruling of a similar case (Thomas Beattie (Pvt) Ltd) which was before the Supreme Court, case SC 32/09 (also denied by Mr Musakwa). Trial commenced on 23rd March 2009.

The State called Nixon Kutsaranga as their witness. What proceeded was a frightening display of acting between this witness, Magistrate Musarurwa and Prosecutor Musakwa. It was as though they had all rehearsed together what to say and how to act out a comedy. Lots of giggling, sneering, jeering and rubbing together of fat hands. Kutsaranga mentioned the "former owner, illegally occupying state land" whenever he could. The State tried to prove that the property in question was indeed gazetted in Oct 2003 and that despite it being withdrawn by the government in August 2004 (thereby setting aside all previous gazettings), Amendment number 17 meant it was declared state land. No argument from our lawyer was entertained here.

Mr Kutsaranga did admit to the court that the company had not been compensated for the developments on the property and that the state was at fault here as this was a condition of acquisition. He did not however see it as a problem and said " Our door is always open, .this matter can be followed up later with our Compensation Department. They will be paid.." We are not sure how a broke government can pay farmers compensation when it can't even pay its civil servants wages.

Mr Kutsaranga was presented with letters from the District Administrator (DA), Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) recommending that the Campbell-Morrisons stay at Eggardon Hill Farm. Kutsaranga said these were mere recommendations and the magistrate agreed with him and so they were not binding.

In 2005, a lands officer, Mr Simon Matendera, had verbally told my husband that if he gave up our farm and home (Sub-division A of Witchwood) that the state would leave us with Eggardon Hill. This was denied by Kutsaranga and he said it was not binding anyway as the State had now decided it required Eggardon Hill for resettlement purposes. This is despite taking 900ha already, none of which are being farmed commercially. Of the 6 new beneficiaries on our farms, none of them live here, 1 has died, 2 have left and handed over to other people, 1 has disappeared and left the country and none are doing anything worthwhile or viable. The roads are barely passable due to no maintenance being done on them, the building are falling down, doors and roofing have been stolen and also pumps, motors, electrical cables and switches, doors, metal tanks, taps, etc

Eggardon Hill is already partly occupied by a Julias Tobaiwa on an illegal subdivision the government came up with. He has most of the arable land, we being left with only about 10ha of ploughable land which we used for pastures, grazing and a bit of maize. The real prize on this property is the house, a magnificent homestead built by an American in the 1950s with the most amazing views. The acquiring of this property has nothing to do with the land but is all about the house.

Mr Musakwa refused the lawyer's appeal for the proceedings to be taped and he only took detailed notes when the defence brought up points which favoured the State and were against us. When we said things to prove that we had been told to stay on the property by several high ranking government officials, including the DA and Governor Chigudu (Provincial Lands Committee Chairman) and Flora Boka (deputy Minister of Lands), he conveniently neglected to make notes so he could not recall these facts in his summing up and judgement. I took copious notes of each days proceedings which Musakwa did not like and in fact told me on judgement day that I was not allowed to take notes in court unless I was an accredited journalist. This according to the lawyers is not at all correct.

The courtroom was filthy and dusty, the windows dirty, no light worked when it got dark, prison officers ate their lunch in there. The chairs were broken. The policeman or woman meant to be guarding was generally asleep during proceedings. Cell phones went off inside (even Musakwa's) and were used outside the courtroom despite signs saying they were prohibited.

The State prosecutor, Malvern Musarurwa, was something else. He is an ex-policeman with almost no knowledge of the law. He talked over the magistrate, interrupted him, argued against his rulings especially when it came to trial delays and was downright rude to him It was only after our lawyer had asked them both to a meeting in the magistrate's chambers that he started to follow court procedures. It was a disgraceful disregard for the law and it made a mockery of the court. It also clearly showed that the magistrate was prepared to let him get away with this behaviour as long as it was against the accused (my husband).

After being found guilty, Musakwa and Musarurwa discussed "a hefty sentence and fine for this horrendous crime". You would think my poor husband had murdered someone! They talked about a level 11 fine AND a jail sentence and eviction from the farm. They then had a good giggle when the magistrate pointed out that if my husband was in jail he could not be evicted from the farm. In his final judgement he fined my husband US$400, his company US$400 and gave him a 12 month suspended sentence on condition he vacates the farm and does not occupy state land for the next 5 years. This final statement is totally unreasonable as it means he cannot farm in Zimbabwe for the next 5 years. This at a time when the country needs experienced qualified farmers to try fed the nation.

We were led to believe that a young government doctor, Nduna, was the so called new beneficiary. He has no farming knowledge and already owns a smallholding just outside Mutare on the Vumba road where he keeps pigs. We were told by certain government officials that he had not gone through the proper channels to receive his so called "offer letter", the document that gives you the right to occupy a farm. The saga took a new twist when the local press the Manica Post (29th May-4th June) on reporting the story of my husband's case (under "Former white farmer fined"), said Mr Nixon Kutsaranga has been allocated the farm. Now he is the Chief Lands Officer Manicaland and was the state witness in the case!

Farmers all over Zimbabwe are being prosecuted in a similar manner but most of the magistrates are deferring the cases as they see it is not right or are frightened to go against the SADC ruling. I believe there is a pending "contempt of SADC Tribunal" court case being prepared against the likes of Musakwa and Musarurwa and the people on the ground evicting farmers from their homes and farms. I hope it can be done and implemented soon before even more chaos ensues.

There is also a strong calling for AG Johannes Tomana to be dismissed and all his rulings to be reviewed. If this does not happen my husband will forever have a criminal record for merely trying to stay on his farm.

The government of national unity and their GPA (Global Political Agreement) promised an immediate land audit to assess the situation on the ground as they realised there has been huge abuse of the allocation system and that not much is happening on the ground. However, this has been ignored by AG Tomana and his colleagues in an attempt to get rid of the few remaining white farmers and to grab what little remains on the commercial farms in Zimbabwe

My husband is second generation Zimbabwean and I am third. This is our home and we have nowhere else to go. We have no intention of going anywhere else but the Zimbabwean government is making sure we cannot stay to farm. We have lost 2 homes now and have had to seek employment outside of agriculture to survive. We are both qualified and experienced in agriculture in Zimbabwe.

We also had a viable tourist business on Eggardon Hill Farm with 2 self-catering holiday cottages and horses for trekking. This has all been lost as well and at a time when the ZTA is trying very hard to revive tourism, a valuable money earner for Zimbabwe, especially in time for the World Cup soccer in 2010.

We have applied for land to farm under the government's A2 scheme in which one receives an offer letter but despite our qualifications, knowledge and experience have not been allocated land by the government. We are clearly the wrong colour!

Our case is not unique although my husband is one of only a few farmers to actually be sentenced and evicted by the court. (Most other forced evictions have been by the thugs on the ground). We have not had the horrific intimidation, beatings and threats, and the vandalisation of other cases, but it was frightening in that it all occurred in the open, in the courthouse under the name of the law. We have appealed against the sentence to the High Court. This will have the effect of stopping the eviction but not the jail sentence, an anomaly in itself because if we stay my husband goes to jail anyway!

We have moved off the farm as my husband cannot spend a year in jail. Already some people from the land's office in Mutare, some thugs from the War Veterans Association to protect them and 2 policemen (1 high ranking) have visited the farm (on Monday 1st June) and climbed over the security fence into the homestead yard. They told an employee that "they came to see if we had vacated and to make sure we had not vandalised the property".

According to our appeal, as per the law, they and the new beneficiary (whichever one) should not enter the property. So it is clear that not even the police have any regard for the laws of Zimbabwe.

A very sad day for our beautiful Zimbabwe!
Posted By: Gairk
*AfricanCrisis Volunteer*

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