Ben Freeth, MBE, Executive Director of the Mike Campbell Foundation, discussed his family’s fight for justice in Zimbabwe at an event at The Institute of World Politics on October 24, 2014.
During his remarks, Mr. Freeth shared his story of oppression and tyranny under the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Mr. Freeth, along with many other white farming families in Zimbabwe, were stripped of their land and in many cases systematically harassed, beaten, and humiliated by members of the government and police forces. Mr. Freeth discussed how important his faith in God was during these trying times in his life and that without his faith he may have never survived the ordeal.
Through the entirety of this horrifying situation, Mr. Freeth and his family remained strong, eventually taking their case to the highest court in the South of Africa, the Southern African Development Community Tribunal. The tribunal ruled in Mr. Freeth’s favor, although the Zimbabwean government did not adhere to this ruling.
Mr. Freeth is still fighting for human rights and the enforcement of his court ruling today in Zimbabwe. He impressed upon all of us that with the discovery of truth and hope in Zimbabwe, it can become a strong country with a real rule of law.
-Lucas Whited