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Communique on the current situation at JAG and JAGMA
Justice for Agriculture (JAG) Zimbabwe
September 28, 2005

As you are all aware there has been an impasse between the Matabeleland faction led by Dave Connolly and Ben Freeth and those of us that have been trying to keep the Harare office open.

In May 2004 we went to professional mediation and although we thought that an agreement had been reached this was reneged on the following morning.

On June 15th we had the Representational Membership meeting which over 50 of you attended. The vote was unanimous against the Matabeleland faction. All parties had agreed to be bound by the findings of that meeting and yet certain assurances given by Connolly were never carried out.

An AGM called by Connolly for the 1st October was not attended by any of the Matabeleland faction.

It was then decided by all parties that a legal opinion, through legal mediation, would be sought. Jeremy Callow was asked to carry this out. His contention was that there were only two valid Trustees left, namely, Ben Freeth and Jim Barker, the others having retired as their two year term of office had expired. The Matabeleland faction contested this saying that Jim Barker had been fired and that only Ben Freeth remained as a Trustee and that he had the sole right to appoint a new board. The board he appointed was as follows: Ben Freeth (Chairman), Willie Robinson (now domiciled in Australia), Wynand Hart, Dave Connolly and Freeth Snr. (Ben's father, a retired British army officer living in the UK).

The Matabeleland faction then took legal advice as to how to take us to the High Court. They were advised that this would lead to the demise of JAG and that it would be better to go to compulsory legal arbitration which would be legally binding on all parties. This took place under a very much respected retired Judge of nineteen years standing.

The outcome of this arbitration was the appointment of a new Board of Trustees which also contained Messrs. Connolly and Freeth. They have both subsequently resigned.

The new Board of Trustees therefore comprises the following members;

• Eric Harrison (Chairman)
• Jim Barker (Vice Chairman)
• Bruce Gemmil
• Joe Whaley
• Alistair Davies
• John Robertson (Economist)
• Dr. Frances Lovemore
• Johnny Rodrigues
• Dennis Pascal [JAGMA]

A Justice for Agriculture Membership Association has been legally constituted known as JAGMA.

The Board of Trustees will be answerable to the JAGMA Committee so that the wishes of the farming membership will be instituted and the JAG Trust held fully accountable to the Membership.

The Mission and Vision statements have been sent out on our email network. We have had hats-off strategy meetings with Agric Africa, FIT and the Compensation Consortium. These have been of great use and will be ongoing. We have JAG representatives at the FIT and CC meetings.

It has come out loud and clear that the strongest claim for compensation will lie in the compilation of the JAG Loss Claim Documents. We will be setting up an office under an experienced manager and looking for facilitators to help with these. When this is in place we would exhort those of you that have not completed your Loss Doc's to do so.

The findings of the Arbitrator mean that we can now go forward unfettered by those that were pulling us back. The drive for Donor funding is under way and we have had some positive responses.

It seems that a huge drive ''FASTER TRACK'' is underway to remove the remaining farmers from the land. Our office is open to give advice. In spite of the recent Constitutional Amendments JAG still have a positive strategy for support for commercial farmers, both in-situ and displaced. We are at 17 Phillips Ave, Belgravia. Phone 799410.

Best wishes to you all from the JAG Team and JAGMA

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