The Price of Courage

This is a true story. A story of courage, sacrifice and bravery. The man featured here is probably not known to anyone outside of Zimbabwe, much less Africa. But this is a shocking tale of injustice, and perfectly demonstrates the breakdown of law and order in a country Condoleeza Rice has named, along with Iran and Burma, as “an outpost of tyranny.” His story deserves to be told. His sacrifice must not be in vain.

This story gives only the basic details. Graphic detail and photographs of this man’s ordeal are available on the website at the end of this story.

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He was, for eight months, the most famous prisoner in Zimbabwe. In one prison he shared a cell designed to hold six people with 38 other prisoners, in another he held a fellow prisoner as he succumbed to AIDS. His wife was allowed to visit him for just ten minutes once every fortnight, usually speaking to him through a fence while the entire visit is monitored.

He was opposition party’s Member of Parliament for the Chimanimani constituency, democratically elected by his mainly black constituents in the 2000 parliamentary elections. His name is Roy Bennett, and he served eight months of a year long jail sentence imposed upon him for pushing a fellow member of parliament to the ground in retaliation to a racially motivated verbal taunt. His story is one of injustice and inequality, and it is a story that must be told.

In order to understand the sheer injustice of Roy’s situation, readers need to know the background to his story.

Roy Bennett is a third generation white Zimbabwean whose great grandparents settled in what was then Rhodesia at the beginning of the 20th century. Up until 2000 he was a farmer. In 1993 he bought a 7,000 acre farm, Charleswood, in the district of Chimanimani, situated in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands area. The farm was one of the country’s most successful coffee plantations, exporting its produce to international markets in Europe. When Roy bought Charleswood, the Zimbabwean government certified it had no interest in the farm.

Roy is renowned for his ability to speak Shona, the language of Zimbabwe’s largest tribal group, fluently. Roy invested his life savings in the farm and provided employment for over 2,000 seasonal and permanent workers. He built homes, a school and clinic for his workers and their families. He is so popular with his black constituents that he has been given a nickname, a great honour in African culture. His is Pachedu, meaning “one of us”.

In 1999 Roy joined a new political party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Roy was asked by local chiefs to run for parliament after he had helped them organize development projects in the neglected communal areas, where most people exist as subsistence farmers. He had, in the past, made financial contributions and organised the rebuilding of roads and bridges destroyed by cyclones in the Chimanimani area. The constituency had been a stronghold of the ruling ZANU PF party since 1980. In 2000 Roy won the Chimanimani seat by an overwhelming majority.

That same year Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe suffered his first defeat in 20 years of power. The country rejected a referendum that would amend the constitution so he would become president for a further two terms and be immune from prosecution for the human rights violations committed during his time in power. Enraged by this defeat, Mugabe encouraged his supporters to invade white-owned farms, claiming black people were angry because Britain and other international donors had failed to provide promised financial support for land redistribution to black people. Britain had actually donated more than £40 million since 1980, but this money could not be accounted for by the Zimbabwean government. Various countries, including America, had offered to pay for land redistribution, on condition that the government set up a viable resettlement scheme, and that land was given to poor, landless black Zimbabweans. For twenty years the government had not attempted to meet either condition. Corruption within the ruling party was rife, but Mugabe refused to co-operate with donors.

The Bennett family’s nightmare began on May 10, 2000. Mugabe’s supporters arrived at his farm. They took his wife, Heather, who was four months pregnant with the couple’s third child, hostage. At knifepoint she was taken to the workers’ compound and forced to stand and sing party political songs for hours in the pouring rain. She was forced to watch as two of the workers were savagely beaten in front of her. Heather managed to escape, but she suffered a miscarriage.

Even worse was to come. The homestead was looted, wages stolen from the safe and an urn containing Roy’s father’s ashes was emptied. The coffee grown on the farm was stolen and illegally exported to Germany.

The human suffering is almost beyond belief. More than 800 people lost their homes. Countless others, including children, were severely tortured. Three women were raped and two men murdered. Others were sexually assaulted. Roy himself was detained by the police, beaten and threatened with death while in custody.

Animals on the farm were not spared. Cattle and wildlife were axed, speared and snared. Cattle were hamstrung – a mutilation caused by the deliberate cutting of their tendons. The farm’s security manager's dog was beaten until its leg was broken. A cat, one of the family’s pets, was burned alive. Indiscriminate poaching included the senseless, brutal killing of female animals in calf.

Since May 2000 there have been seven court rulings in favour of Roy Bennett’s right to remain as the legal owner of his farm. Each time the invaders have been ordered to leave Charleswood, but not one of the court orders has been carried out. Today the farm lies idle, with barriers across the roads and armed guards preventing access to anyone.

Simply because Roy Bennett is a member of Zimbabwe’s opposition party.

Four years of intimidation and lawlessness that saw this family lose their home and their livelihood came to a head on May 18, 2004. While contributing to a debate in parliament Roy was verbally assaulted by two ZANU PF members of parliament. The Minister of Legal Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa, mocked Roy, who was delivering his speech in perfect Shona. He accused Bennett’s forefathers of being thieves and murders. He went on to say that Bennett would never set foot in his home, Charleswood, again.

Bennett later said: "I burst because I could not bottle up the anger. I am human - anyone would have done the same under similar circumstances.”

He shoved Chinamasa in retaliation, and a minor fracas broke out, with the Anti-Corruption and Monopolies Minister Didymus Mutasa joining the fight. Mutasa ended up on the floor, but subsequently boasted to CNN: “I kicked him (Roy Bennett) hard.” The fight was eventually broken up by security guards, and at no time was Chinamasa cautioned by parliament about making such a public and personal attack on Bennett. After the incident Bennett apologised to Chinamasa for losing his temper – but in vain.

The punishment handed to Roy Bennett was severe. He was sentenced to one year in jail with hard labour. The gazetted fine for this kind of offence in Zimbabwe is the equivalent of U$1,50. Less than £1,00. Today that is equal to US$0,015.

Bennett’s suffering continued in jail. He lost 23 kilograms in weight, and each of the three jails he spent time in was infested with lice. He is very fair skinned, and working in Africa’s sun all day left him with serious sunburn, because the prison officials would not allow him to wear a hat. The first few weeks he was incarcerated he was made to wear an old, dirty prison uniform that was so torn it left his genitalia exposed. This was clearly done to break his spirit. Roy became so popular with the inmates of the first jail in which he was incarcerated that he was moved to the prison in Mutoko before spending the last couple of months of his sentence in the notorious maximum security prison of Chikurubi.

Many international organisations and governments, including the European Union and Amnesty International condemned the sentence handed to Bennett. Their objections fell on deaf ears. President Mugabe wanted Roy Bennett to remain in jail for the full duration of his sentence, and he did. He was released four months earlier on grounds of “good behaviour”.

Roy’s story is available on the following link:

http://www.freeroybennett.com

Since his release Roy has been to South Africa for medical treatment that is not available in Zimbabwe. He’s also spent time visiting family and friends in Britain and Canada. An interview was conducted with him after his release by one of Africa’s top investigative shows, and the interview may be viewed on this link:

http://www.carteblanche.co.za/Display/Display.asp?Id=2827

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