OUR STORY
Our Foundation seeks justice for victims of torture and abuse;
Works towards the restoration of the rule of law where it has been demolished;
Assists those forced to live in extreme poverty with survival skills.
Brings hope where there is only despair in Zimbabwe
THE GOAL OF THE MIKE CAMPBELL FOUNDATION IS:
'To promote and protect the rule of law and to uphold basic human rights that should be fundamental to society.'
Mike Campbell (foreground) with Ben Freeth
and Mount Carmel workers
-
The Mike Campbell Foundation was set up to continue the work of the late Mike Campbell, a dynamic Zimbabwean commercial farmer and conservationist.
-
Together with his son-in-law, Ben Freeth MBE, Mike took former President Robert Mugabe to court over his government’s controversial and often brutal land seizure programme.​
-
After failing to get justice through Zimbabwe’s partisan court system following ongoing attempts by the regime to take over his Mount Carmel farm, Mike took his case to the regional human rights court, Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal, in 2007.
-
In March 2008, the Tribunal allowed 77 other dispossessed farmers to join the case.
-
In June 2008, Mike, his wife, Angela and Ben were abducted and brutally tortured to force them to withdraw their case from the SADC Tribunal. They refused to do so and the case went ahead.
-
In November 2008, the Tribunal judges ruled that Mugabe’s land seizure programme was illegal and racist.
-
Although the Tribunal ordered the government to protect those farmers and farm workers against whom violent atrocities had been committed, the brutal harassment continued.
-
In 2009, both family homesteads on Mount Carmel farm were burnt down, as well as a number of worker homes and their linen factory, a women’s upliftment project.
-
Mike and Ben’s struggle for justice was documented in the award-winning, clandestinely filmed documentary, “Mugabe and the White African”, and in Ben Freeth’s first book of the same name.
-
The severe injuries Mike sustained during his abduction and torture led to his death in April 2011.
-
The Mike Campbell Foundation was formed in 2011 to continue Mike’s work and was registered as a charity in the UK.
AFRICA: WHERE HAS OUR CONTINENT – AND ZIMBABWE - GONE WRONG?
35% of the Africas population is chronically undernourished
Africa contributes only 1.3% to world’s produce
63% of Zimbabweans live below poverty line
The situation
Africa is the richest continent on earth: The World Economic Forum reports that Africa has 30% of the world’s natural resources and some of the best climatic conditions, rainfall and soils in the world.
Africa has an abundance of arable land, yet 35% of the population is chronically undernourished and the whole continent of Africa only contributes 1.3% to the world’s produce.
In 1970, Africa produced 8 percent of world’s agricultural exports while Thailand produced 1.7 percent. By 2009, Africa’s share of world agricultural exports was a quarter of what it was half a century before, and each year Thailand a country with less than 2% of the area of the African continent, exports more than the entire African continent.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
In the last 50 years, Africa has received more than US$ 2,000 billion of aid and yet the number of people living in poverty has increased.
Africans have minimal laws to protect them and their property. Indexes for property rights and the rule of law show Africa is by far the lowest of any continent.
As a result, farmers cannot capitalise. They live in fear because ruling elites and their supporters can take their property at will, frequently without compensation or recourse to justice.
Zimbabwe is a prime example
The World Food Program’s 2018 report for Zimbabwe highlights the following statistics:
-
15.6 million population
-
63% of people live below the poverty line
-
27% of children have stunted growth
-
1.1 million people face food insecurity, with 2.5 million potentially at risk
Prior to the farm invasions in 2000, the nationalisation of farm land and the destruction of the rule of law, Zimbabwe was a major exporter of food to the region.
Projected population increase in Africa
Despite the appalling level of food insecurity, Africa’s population is increasing dramatically. In 1900 it was 100 million—half of Europe’s population at the time. By the year 2000 it was 800 million and had exceeded Europe’s population. Now the population is 1.1 billion and is increasing by 3.5 million per month. By 2100, Africa’s population is projected to rise to between 3.5 and 4 billion—more than 6 times that of Europe.
Our solutions - the starting points
-
All land must be converted/restored to titled land, i.e. land nationalisation must be reversed and communal dwellers must be given title to the land
-
A return to law and order, i.e. restore the rule of law
Zimbabwe further reading:
​
Property rights essential for development by Prof Craig Richardson, May 2018:
http://www.mikecampbellfoundation.com/page/property-rights-essential-for-development
After Mugabe presentation in London by Ben Freeth, 6 March 2018: http://www.mikecampbellfoundation.com/page/13770/article/740
US Congress hearing on Zimbabwe – presentation by Ben Freeth, 8 February 2018:
http://www.mikecampbellfoundation.com/page/13770/article/741
A hungry nation can be controlled – by Ben Freeth, 22 August 2016:
http://www.mikecampbellfoundation.com/page/13769/article/705
Revolution, riches and God – presentation by Ben Freeth to World Christian Economic Forum, 15 August 2016: http://www.mikecampbellfoundation.com/page/13770/article/704
