Ben Freeth, spokesperson for SADC Tribunal Rights Watch in Zimbabwe, has penned an open letter to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, urging the restoration of the rule of law in the country, among other matters.
Freeth said that the majority of the roughly 4,500 farmers who lost their land under Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Resettlement Programme 25 years ago have still not received any compensation. Many of these farmers are now elderly and living in difficult conditions.
He called on the government to ensure that all dispossessed Zimbabwean farmers and title deed holders receive fair and just compensation or restitution.
The open letter, addressed to President Mnangagwa and dated 24 February 2026, emphasises the urgent need for action. The letter reads:
“I am writing to you out of a deep sense of love for Zimbabwe, her people and our collective future.
“As we know, the future is dictated by the choices we make in the present. If good and just decisions are made in the present, the future will be bright and full of hope. If good and just decisions are not made in the present, then the future will be dark and chaotic.
“I wish to commend you on the moves that are being made to compensate the 0.5 per cent or so of landowners who come from foreign countries which have treaty agreements with Zimbabwe. These landowners from the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and the like are either being paid for their farms or given the option to go back to their farms, if they wish to take that option.
“Once those farms are paid for, or those owners return to their farms, the title deeds and the rights that they bestow will be good, and any future on those farms will be able to be secure and blessed. Secure, transferrable and bankable property rights are the key to a productive and prosperous future.
“Unfortunately, the moves to compensate farmers and landowners who are Zimbabweans or from countries that do not have bilateral investment treaties are different. Such farmers are only being given the option of receiving a one per cent payment in cash for a discounted valuation of the improvements on their farms, followed by a further 1 percent. Any further payments are due to be in government bonds, which, if history is a judge, will not be worth very much.
“We therefore have a very weighted system of favouritism where foreigners are being allocated massively disproportionate rights over and above the rights of local people. How can one group of people be allocated more rights than another group of people? This is discriminatory.
“You will be aware of the Campbell Judgment in the regional court of justice and court of last resort, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal, on 28 November 2008. You will also be aware that the Zimbabwe government was ordered to compensate commercial farmer Mike Campbell and two other farmers in that case by June 2009. President Mugabe did not do so. Nearly 17 years later, those three farmers have not received any money ̶ or any offer of any money ̶ as compensation for their property.
“When they went back to the SADC Tribunal and put in a case to try to get paid, President Mugabe and the other Heads of State collaborated to get the judges suspended in 2011. The SADC Tribunal has still been unable to deal with the case, even though it was lodged in that court more than a decade and a half ago, because the judges have still not been reappointed by SADC.
“All the other farmers who were part of the SADC Tribunal case were told they could continue farming, but all of them, apart from one, were subsequently removed from their farms under President Mugabe, often with great violence unleashed against them, their workers and their property.
“None of them has been compensated or afforded the opportunity to go back to their farms during the eight years since President Mugabe left office.
“In the interests of encouraging investors and investment, this situation needs rectifying. We, as Zimbabwe, cannot remain in contempt of a final and binding judgment given under the SADC Treaty. As you are aware, the Americans incorporated the need to obey this and other judgments from the SADC Tribunal as a prerequisite for American investment and support.
“It is tragic to note that the late Mike Campbell, who took the case to the SADC Tribunal, died as a result of the injuries sustained when thugs abducted him two weeks before the court case, trying to dissuade him from continuing with the high-profile case.
“Paul Tungwarara, who is now on Mike Campbell’s biblically and auspiciously named Mount Carmel farm (in contravention of the SADC Tribunal judgment), was awarded a tender to build a wall around State House for which he reportedly submitted an invoice of US$15 million.
“This figure alone is five times the paltry US$3 million amount allocated in the budget for paying out the thousands of farmers who do not have the rights afforded to them that have been afforded to the foreign farmers (notably the Dutch, German, Swiss and Danish investors).
“Mr Tungwarara, who has now occupied Mount Carmel farm illegally, travels in helicopters and private jets while Mr Campbell died unable to even live in his own home. Locals are suffering while foreigners and the elite are allocated uncompensated farms and large sums of the State’s limited resources.
“If just decisions were to be made and judgments respected, there would be blessings in Zimbabwe. In the book of Leviticus, the Lord said to Moses regarding people who have taken property: “he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion…. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner…”
“In February 2004, I read out at a public hearing in the Zimbabwean Parliament from the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 27, verse 17. It says: “cursed is the man who moves his neighbour’s boundary stone.” I also read out the promise of blessings – and curses – in the following chapter, depending on whether the person or people acting unjustly obeyed God’s law or failed to do so. Hosea 5:10 says: “Judah’s leaders are like those who move boundary stones. I will pour out my wrath like a flood of water.”
“In our love for Zimbabwe and its people, we wish to see blessings in the land and on its people, not curses. We should not be relying on food aid and food imports and be limping along with severely struggling infrastructure, education, healthcare and other crucial sectors.
“Blessing will come when everyone is able to have ownership that is protected by law. We will be blessed by abundance if this happens. To that end, I walked with a horse all the way from the outer boundary of Mount Carmel to the former seat of the SADC Tribunal in Windhoek, Namibia ̶ a distance of about 2,400km ̶ to bring attention to this dire need and to say a prayer that the judgment from the SADC Tribunal be adhered to and the rule of law upheld in Zimbabwe.
“We look forward to your deliberations on this and ask that God-fearing decisions be made to choose a future that is bright and full of hope by allowing the rule of law to triumph so that we can take our place as a country of plenty and security once more.
“Zimbabweans need to know that they are all equal citizens before the law under God. They need to know that the current situation, where Zimbabwe is following discriminatory practices and is not adhering to the rule of law to give full and equitable compensation or restitution, needs changing urgently.”
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