A Zimbabwean farmer who has led the campaign against Robert Mugabe’s land-grab policy appeared to have lost his battle after being forced to leave his property by the President’s henchmen.

Mike Campbell, 76, one of the remaining white farmers, was threatened at his farm in Chegutu by a man calling himself Chimambira (Landmine in Shona), who was flanked by supporters, according to Ben Freeth, Mr Campbell’s son-in-law.

Mr Freeth said that the man kicked in the kitchen door, forcing Mr Campbell to stand guard with his revolver for three hours in an attempt to defend his land.

The next day, Mr Freeth said, Chimambira returned and gave Mr Campbell and his wife, Angela, two hours to leave. Yesterday men could be seen loading up mangoes produced by the farm and taking them into town for sale in the market.In June last year the couple and Mr Freeth, 39, were beaten by members of Mr Mugabe’s militia. The family have been at the forefront of the fight against the drive by Mr Mugabe to seize land owned by white farmers in Zimbabwe.

Mr Campbell won a landmark case last November, in which Mr Mugabe was ordered to stop land seizures and to protect white farmers. An agreement made by the new power-sharing Government also commits the administration to ensuring that farmers are allowed to produce food without harassment.

Since the power-sharing deal, about 100 farming families have faced renewed pressure to abandon their land.

Yesterday seven of Mr Campbell’s workers appeared in court on charges of kidnapping supporters of Chimambira. They claimed to have been beaten by the raiding party and by police, with one of them suffering a fractured skull.

Earlier the workers had formed a cordon around the farm, telling the henchmen: “We are not going to allow what happened last year happen again.”

“They really were encouraged by the new agreement, that the rule of law would be fairly applied,” Mr Freeth said.

Mr Mugabe and his ministers have taken refuge in a clause in the agreement stating that “land reform is irreversible”. They claim that the violence is caused by white farmers resisting the documentation that gives Zanu (PF) supporters rights over property.

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