Farmer reveals the bloody face of Zimbabwe terror

Published on Saturday 26 September 2009 01:55

WHEN the youths saw Murray Pott's sister filming them as they hit the Zimbabwean farmer with sticks, they smashed the kitchen window to try to get to her too.

Mr Pott, who is of Scottish descent, was left with broken ribs and head injuries after a mob attacked him on his farm in Chinhoyi, central Zimbabwe last week.

The incident shows how terrifying life has become for the country's last white farmers seven months into the power-sharing agreement between president Robert Mugabe and former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai that was widely expected to end land invasions.

"I was attacked in my mother's yard by 13 people," Mr Pott told The Scotsman. "I was hit 28 times with sticks."

Blood streaming down his face, the father of two was rushed to a government hospital. Mr Pott, who grew tobacco, soyabeans, potatoes and desperately-needed maize on his Hilltop Farm, has kidney problems because of his injuries.

Farmers' groups say that Mr Mugabe is using youths to stir up violence in a throwback to the early days of Zimbabwe's white farm seizures. Mr Tsvangirai, who is now prime minister, appears powerless to stop him.

Thirteen white farmers were murdered after Mr Mugabe ordered (now late) war veterans' leader 'Hitler' Hunzvi to lead farm invasions in 2001: since then, more than 3,000 people have lost homes and livelihoods.

Police have been given orders not to arrest perpetrators of the latest violence: when Mr Pott gave a video of Tuesday's attack to the police, they responded by charging him with public violence.

"They are saying I was the one doing the violence. But I was only one person against 13," said Mr Pott. One of the youths was knocked to the ground during the attack. "I have the paperwork to be allowed to carry on farming," the farmer said.

Mr Mugabe is defiant. "If they (white farmers] thought they would be saved by the inclusive government, that is a lie," he told Zanu-PF youths this month.

"I will just send police to drive them away."

A day after the attack on Mr Pott, the 85-year-old president told around 850 potential investors attending a mining conference in Harare that his government was not "rough and racist as some people regard us."

With what critics describe as unbelievable cynicism, Mr Mugabe said: "The sanctity of property rights and the rule of law in all its dimensions are fully respected."

Deon Theron, the president of the Commercial Farmers' Union, said: "He's lying through his teeth." The union is compiling a list of 'incidents' on white farms: last month there were 172.

Less than 500 farmers are still on the land: "Nobody's stable," said Mr Theron. "Since he made that horrible statement to the youths, things have hotted up.

"It's the youths that have always been used. They've been used right through the elections. They are just Mugabe's brownshirts," he added.