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Seeking Justice 28th November 2004 THOUSANDS of white Zimbabwean farmers are to take both the British and Zimbabwean governments to the international courts, seeking £12 billion in compensation for their lost farms and in damages. After a four-year campaign of violent evictions in which 15 farmers have been murdered, British law firms have been hired to bring a class action. In what will be an unprecedented case, they will accuse the Zimbabwean government of human rights abuses and failure to respect international treaties. British officials will be accused of reneging on agreements made at independence in 1980. The action emerged this weekend as England's cricketers prepared to play the first match of what has been dubbed "the tour of shame". Graffiti on walls near Harare sports club reading "England go home" reflect the feeling of many towards the series in a country whose president, Robert Mugabe, is starving his people. Zimbabwe is described by the farmers' organisation Justice for Agriculture (Jag) as "on the threshold of genocide". Pius Ncube, the Archbishop of Bulawayo, said: "By coming and playing here the England cricket team are giving credibility to this evil regime and its evil deeds." Pointing out that Mugabe has purged the Zimbabwean team of its most experienced players because he wants an all-black side, Ncube added: "It's no good arguing sports and politics don't mix. Mugabe is patron of Zimbabwe cricket and in this country everything is politicised." The white farmers, who would once have crammed the stands for a match such as today's are among the most virulently opposed to the tour. "To us this is yet another betrayal by the British government," said John Worsley-Worsick, a spokesman for Jag. Angry that the white farmers have often been portrayed as villains because of their vast estates and affluent lifestyle, he turned the blame on what for most is the mother country. One of the triggers for land seizure, he believes, was the British government's decision to stop funding land reform. "By doing this they reneged on the Lancaster House agreement signed at independence under which Britain agreed to fund land reform unconditionally," he said. "The world saw us as the culpable party because we had so much land, but 82% of us purchased our land since 1980 and with full approval of the Zimbabwe government. "The problem is we inherited a colonial system where the disparity between commercial agricultural land and communal agricultural land was a disgrace." Mugabe justified the eviction of white farmers on the grounds that their land had been stolen in the first place, Worsley-Worsick said. The original white settlers were permitted by a royal charter to explore for minerals but took land in breach of assurances given by Queen Victoria to King Lobengula, a regional ruler, he said. "We inadvertently became the receivers of stolen property which should have been rectified by the British government funding land reform," he added. Christina
Lamb, Harare - Sunday Times (UK) |