Read Ben Freeth's account of the pre-election violence in Zimbabwe

The white farmer who was brutally beaten after writing of the terror campaign in rural Zimbabwe has accused President Mugabe of conducting a racial war to drive out the country’s remaining whites and seize their assets.

From his hospital bed Ben Freeth told The Times that Mr Mugabe had campaigned on a bogus promise of black empowerment, vowing to return white-owned land to the masses. But in reality, Mr Freeth charged, his intention was to drive out all whites from Zimbabwe and use their assets to pay his debts to the henchmen who have terrorised the opposition.

“It is all racial with Mr Mugabe,” Mr Freeth, who was abducted with his parents-in-law on Sunday, said. Doctors had just told him that they would be able to save his damaged right eye. His mother-in-law, Angela Campbell, needed surgery on her broken arm and his father-in-law, Mike, had just returned from a scan for signs of a fractured skull.

“All the posters and election campaign were about 100 per cent empowerment, and empowerment to the politicians is taking what belongs to people with white-coloured skins and giving it to the party faithful.

“He has nothing to pay his thugs with, his coffers are empty, so instead they are told they can loot what they like from the farms and they will be rewarded with land, too,” he said.

Mr Freeth said that the latest attack was worse than anything they had experienced in eight years of attempted land seizures since Mr Mugabe began his violent land reform programme in 2000. Trevor Gifford, the president of the Commercial Farmers’ Union, said they had believed that the violence would ease once Mr Mugabe had clinched a sixth term.

“It seems like now he intends to finish the job off,” Mr Gifford said.

Mr Freeth and the Campbells are the lead plaintiffs in a landmark case at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Court , to reverse the land reform programme.

During their nine-hour ordeal at the hands of the “war veterans” they were ordered to sign a document stating that they would drop the case. Mr Freeth was unconscious and Mr Campbell was unable to sign because his assailants had broken his fingers. Mrs Campbell, with a revolver held to her head, signed for them.

Their abduction was the most brutal attack on farmers in the Chegutu area who are involved in the case. The veterans made no attempt to evict them from the farm, choosing instead to beat them to intimidate other farmers into dropping the legal challenge. “I think they are afraid that the court will say that what happened here was illegal,” he said. The SADC tribunal is due to rule on the case on July 16 in Windhoek, Namibia. A ruling was originally due before the March 29 election but the Government’s lawyers succeeded in having the case postponed.

The attacks in the Chegutu area have taken place under the leadership of Gilbert Moyo, a war veteran who led the assault on the Campbell’s farm. He had been implicated in attacks on at least eight other farms.

Mr Freeth said that Mr Moyo was acting under the orders of a senior Zanu (PF) senator, Edna Mazumgwe, who answers directly to Mr Mugabe and the Joint Operations Command.

“She’s told the police not to get involved; he will be rewarded with the loot and won’t be arrested,” he added.

If the violence against white farmers was not halted, he claimed, Zimbabwe’s desperate food situation could worsen significantly. Yesterday the United Nations gave warning that millions would go hungry if access were not restored to vast swaths of the country that were cut off from food distribution after the Government banned aid agency field work before the election.

Poor weather, repeated farm attacks and chronic agricultural supply shortages have made this the worst harvest in Zimbabwe since independence. “Thabo Mbeki [the South African President] seems to think he can carry on with his quiet diplomacy but at the end of the day, Robert Mugabe is not interested in that. He’s got his own agenda,” Mr Freeth said.

Mr Freeth believed that whites still had a place in Zimbabwe’s multiracial society and called for a lasting settlement to the land dispute to bring the violence to an end. He added that he would not leave, not least for the sake of his 250 workers who would be destitute if he went. “I believe a lot of people will continue to leave. But it’s in my heart to stay,” he said.

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