Mugabe and the White African

Ben Freeth MBE

• Publisher: Lion Books
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9780745959856
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Biographies

Ben Freeth has an extraordinary story to tell. Like that of many white farmers, his family's land was 'reclaimed' by Mugabe's government for redistribution. But Ben's family fought back. Appealing to international law, they instigated a suit against Mugabe's government in the SADC (The Southern African Development Community). The case was deferred time and again while Mugabe's men pulled strings. But after Freeth and his parents-in-law were abducted and beaten within inches of death in 2008, the SADC deemed any further delay to be an obstruction of justice. The case was heard, and successful on all counts. But the story doesn't end there. In 2009 the family farm was burnt to the ground. The fight for justice in Zimbabwe is far from over - this book is for anyone who wants to see into the heart of one of today's hardest places, and how human dignity flourishes even in the most adverse circumstances.

APPENDIX 1 - GLOSSARY

Agritex Department of Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services

Black Boots the Support Unit, or riot police, known as the “Black Boots” due to their footwear

boss boy the right-hand man of the boss/owner

CFU Commercial Farmers’ Union

chef a term that was picked up by Mugabe’s men in Mozambique during the war in the 1970s, it refers to senior party officials

chimurenga revolutionary war

CIO the Central Intelligence Organization or secret police

dagga cannabis

Gukurahundi “the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains”. The term refers to the massacres carried out by President Mugabe’s North Korean-trained 5^th Brigade between 1983 (only three years after independence) and 1987 in the predominantly Ndebele regions of Zimbabwe. About 20,000 people in Matabeleland and the Midlands died or disappeared. In September 2010, the Gukurahundi massacres were classified as a genocide by the internationally recognized group Genocide Watch

JAG Justice for Agriculture

Jambanja a state-sponsored, violent confrontation initiated to force farmers and farm workers off the commercial farms

kraal a traditional African village of huts, typically enclosed by a fence

lowveld land in the lower areas of the country

mabhunu a racist term for a white farmer

mbanje cannabis

MDC Movement for Democratic Change party

mealie-meal ground maize flour

mopani an African hardwood tree

mudzimu ancestral spirit

Nyami Nyami water spirit or river god of the Zambezi River

n’yanga witch doctor spirit medium

nyati buffalo

Operation Murambatsvina “clean out the filth” – where 2.4 million people were affected as homes and businesses were bulldozed in 2005

pamberi the word used at all the rallies and pungwes, meaning “forward” in Shona

panga a half-metre long knife

pungwe all-night indoctrination meeting designed to instil fear through denunciations, public beatings, and killings

recuse the disqualification of a judge (or prosecutor or juror) by reason of prejudice or conflict of interest

rule of law is to rule and accept the supremacy of law itself, usually in the form of a justiciable Bill of Rights in a relatively rigid constitution. The ruler is the law itself and no one is above the law

rule by law is to use law as an instrument of oppression where there is no respect for human rights and there is usually no constitution and a justiciable Bill of Rights. The ruler is the executive (usually a dictatorship) who uses oppressive law to rule

SADC Southern African Development Community (comprises fifteen member-states, including Zimbabwe)

sjambok heavy leather whip traditionally made from hippo hide

skull bashing intimidation

svikiro personal spirit medium

terr terrorist

veld southern African term for open grassland or bush

vlei wet low-lying open areas with black soils that work like a sponge

ZANLA Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) which fought in the Rhodesian bush war

ZANU Zimbabwe African National Union, the political party led by Robert Mugabe

ZANU–PF Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front

ZAPU Zimbabwe African People’s Union was a political party formed in 1961. With the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987, ZAPU was absorbed into ZANU–PF, effectively achieving a one-party state

ZIPRA Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) which fought in the Rhodesian bush war

ZIJIRI Zimbabwe Joint Resettlement Initiative

ZUM Zimbabwe Unity Movement, which was formed to contest elections in 1990, ten years after independence and soon quashed

APPENDIX 2 - TIMELINE

1889		British South Africa Company (BSAC) gains a mandate to colonise what becomes Southern Rhodesia
1890		Pioneer column arrives from the south at site of future capital, Salisbury (renamed Harare after Independence)
1896– 1897		First Chimurenga (revolutionary struggle) ag...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword by Desmond Tutu
• Foreword by John Sentamu
• Mugabe and the White African
• Appendix 1: Glossary
• Appendix 2: Timeline
• Appendix 3: Ben Freeth’s Open Letter to Mugabe
• Appendix 4: Updates
• Maps
• Photo Section
• Notes