‘I’ll fight until Mugabe pays for the farm he stole from my family’
Lindsay Watling
14 December 2012
A Londoner forced off her 3,600-acre farm in Zimbabwe vowed today to keep
the pressure on Robert Mugabe’s regime as it admitted illegally seizing
land.
In a landmark statement, the ruling Zanu PF party this week acknowledged for
the first time it had an obligation to pay compensation to Timolene Tibbett
and a group of other former farmers who were victims of land-grabs — but
then claimed it did not have the resources to do so.
Mrs Tibbett, whose family was kicked off their land in the Macheke district
in 2001, said she would not stop campaigning until justice had been done.
She accused Zimbabwe’s ruling elite of siphoning millions of pounds from the
country for its own use.
The Kensington-born former equestrian competitor and 10 others were promised
a payout in 2009 after a court awarded more than €23.9 million (£19.3million)to victims. But the mother of three, who is heading a campaign by Justice
Zimbabwe, is yet to receive a penny and is living in a small flat in Harlow,
Essex.
Mrs Tibbett blames the stress of the ordeal for her husband Rolf’s premature
death. He died in 2008 from a perforated ulcer, aged 50.
She said: “The Zimbabwean government inflicted a terrible cost on my family
and many others in this illegal action. Our hard-fought World Bank
compensation claim is yet to be paid and we will be campaigning until
justice is done.” At the Zanu PF annual party conference which started this
week, an official report accepted that Mugabe’s land-grab campaign was in
contravention of investment protection agreements taken out by the farmers.
The report stated: “The agreements require that the government pays fair
compensation in currency of former owners’ choice. In this regard, the
government has an outstanding payment of 16 million (£12.9 million) awarded
to Dutch farmers.” But the report went on to claim there was no money to
fund the compensation.
In 2009, a World Bank international court in Paris awarded the 11 former
farmers more than 16 million with an additional 10 per cent interest for
every year since the land was commandeered, taking the total amount owed to
23.9 million.
Mrs Tibbett argued that the money was available: “Reports from NGOs and MPs
prove billions of dollars of diamond wealth have disappeared from Zimbabwe.
At the same time Mugabe’s ministers have become fabulously wealthy.”
Campaigners are urging Foreign Secretary William Hague not to ease sanctions
on Zimbabwe when the EU meets next year. The group’s 11 members have also
suggested that previously seized Zimbabwean assets held by the UK Treasury
are used to cover some of the money owed.