CAMPBELL vs MUGABE: a brave white farmner takes Mugabe to international court

TIMES OF LONDON: Zimbabwe: white farmer Mike Campbell mounts last stand over land grab

The names on the court affidavit are stark; William Michael Campbell vs Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

While 4,000 white farmers have been thrown off their land in Zimbabwe, Mike Campbell is the first to take the president himself to an international court. On Tuesday his case will open at the new tribunal of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the Namibian capital of Windhoek.

“It took some guts to sign my name to that,” said 73-year-old Campbell, glancing at the court papers. “But then I thought, what have I got to lose? My life I suppose . . .”

Both he and Mugabe are stubborn old men but there the comparison ends. Campbell is a white farmer fighting to retain his land, one of fewer than 500 still clinging on after eight years of violent farm invasions.

His has been a lonely stand that has seen his wildlife killed, his safari lodge burnt down, his mangoes stolen and the death of a pregnant daughter-in-law. He and his family have also been virtually ostracised by fellow white farmers.

“We tried to get other farmers to join the fight but they said you’re mad . . . you’ll stick your neck out and get your head chopped off,” Campbell said.

RTWT.

• MUGABE TRANSFORMED WEALTHY FOOD-EXPORTING RHODESIA INTO IMPOVERISHED SOCIALIST ZIMBABWE.
• THE COMBINATION OF BLACK-NATIONALISM AND SOCIALISM HAS DESTROYED A ONCE GREAT ECONOMY.
• BTW: OBAMA'S SOCIALISM WOULD DO SIMILAR THINGS TO THE USA...