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In breach


November 30, 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

A few days ago I had no choice but to travel past the farm my husband and I legally bought in 1990 but which was grabbed from us by a mob of government supporters 10 years later in 2000. In the eight years since then I've never had any official written communication from the government of Zimbabwe about the farm - not even a letter informing me of the state acquisition of the property. I've never been offered or received any compensation for the assets seized.

I am not talking about the land itself but about the improvements on it including workers' houses, farm buildings, a dairy, spray race, tobacco barns, trading store, dams, borehole, water pumps and pipes, an electricity transformer and scores of kilometres of fencing. Nor has the government of Zimbabwe given any compensation for our home on the farm or for all the fixtures and fittings that were in place in our fully functional house. Nothing has been given to any of the men and women who worked for us on the farm either - not land, money, homes, jobs or pensions.

Believe it or not, this lack of official paperwork concerning the seizure of the farm and then the non payment of any compensation at all, is something that the vast majority of Zimbabweans are not aware of. Mostly we just don't talk about the farms anymore, its become a topic of shame, embarrassment, disgust, contempt.

What I saw this week as I drove past the farm to which I hold the Title Deeds, filled me with deep sadness at the widespread destruction. All the fencing has gone - many kilometres of it. Thousands of trees planted for poles and timber have been chopped down. All the contours which protected the land from erosion have gone. The roofing on the dairy has gone. The workers houses - made of brick and cement - have all been smashed down into piles of rubble. The tin roof sheets have gone. The metal door and window frames have gone. The borehole pump, motor and pipes have gone. The roofing on the tobacco barns has gone. The farm store which used to sell groceries, fresh produce and milk has been turned into a beer hall. The state of the farm dams and the main farmhouse is unknown, this is a no-go area. The local people call it The Jambanja Place and they speak scornfully of the people on the farm as the Jambanja People. (The word Jambanja has many connotations but mostly it means a violent struggle)

It's been eight years since Zanu PF put us into a perpetual state of jambanja and now Zimbabwe is completely stricken. A lethal cocktail of hunger, disease, super hyper inflation, infrastructural collapse, brain drain and emigration is decimating our population and crippling our country.

This week a ruling was made by SADC in the test case of 78 white Zimbabwean farmers trying to keep their land. Judge Louis Mondlane, President of the SADC Tribunal said that the Zimbabwe government "is in breach of the SADC treaty with regards to discrimination." We wait to see if these are just words and if SADC hold any sway when it comes to dealing with one of their own breaking 15 nation treaties. While we wait ever more Zimbabweans have no choice this Christmas but to flood into neighbouring countries in search of food, medicines, and work.

I will be taking a break for a while but wish all Zimbabweans, wherever you are in the world, a blessed, peaceful, healthy Christmas. 2009 will be better!

Until next year, thanks for reading.

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