Mugabe and the White African

When a farmer dares to defy President Robert Mugabe before a recently formed international tribunal, ironies abound.

Not only is Michael Campbell, the ‘White African’ of this documentary’s provocative title, accusing a one-time hero of the Zimbabwean liberation movement on a charge of, amongst other things, racism, but to get to the court in Namibia’s capital, Windhoek, Campbell must first drive down Robert Mugabe Avenue.

Still, nothing quite sharpens irony like the constant (and soon realised) threat of home invasions, bloody beatings or worse – and so Campbell’s brave challenge to Zimbabwe’s ‘land reform’ policies ends up putting on trial far broader injustices within the Mugabe regime – not that any verdict is likely to be respected.

Here, one family’s catastrophe, filmed covertly to avoid a press ban, reflects a whole nation brought to its knees by a self-serving despot and his thuggish enforcers.

Anton Bitel

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