Film Festival Highlights Zim White Farmers' Plight

By Frederick Kebadiretse
Staff Writer | Monday March 22, 2010 00:00

The two films shown bring to the world the suffering of farm labourers brought about by their masters' evictions from the farms when Mugabe's controversial land re-allocation programme was launched at the turn of the millennium (2000).

The first film, House of Justice, which is a 26-minute documentary, pays special attention to the experiences of farm workers who have been some of the worst affected victims of Zimbabwe's land reforms, but whose story remained largely untold. The documentary depicts human rights violations that have taken place on the farms in Zimbabwe, which are supposedly protected by the SADC Tribunal.

Its focus is on the three farms in the Chegutu area, which were all part of an important SADC Tribunal case where the farmers and the labourers were afforded protection by the tribunal. The Zimbabwean government was ordered to stop violating the rights of he citizens, but the farmers and farm workers have suffered serious violence since November 2008. It goes further to question the ultimate point of SADC if a member state does not stand up for justice and the official SADC court as the Zimbabwean government has done.

The other film: Mugabe and The White African, (1hr 24 min)' was showing for the second time after being shown at last year's festival. The film shows the story of Mike Campbell, one of the few remaining white farmers in Zimbabwe to have fought hard to retain his farm in the face of the violent 'land reform' programme. Campbell took a step not thought of by many when he challenged President Mugabe before the SADC International Court to defend his farm. The farm was home to 500 African workers and their families and Campbell wanted to charge Mugabe and his government with racial discrimination and violations of human rights.

The film was shortlisted for the Oscar Academy Documentary Awards, won the British Independent Film Awards 2009, SILVERDOCS Documentary Festival and was also a finalist for the London Film Festival last year.

The Human Rights Film Festival started last Thursday and will continue until the end of this month. It is organised by Ditshwanelo the Botswana Centre For Human Rights.