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Remarks to Cape Town investment conference
Roy Bennett
March 11, 2011

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Good evening Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

On behalf of my wife, Heather, my party, the Movement for Democratic Change, and indeed the people of Zimbabwe, I thank you for the opportunity of talking to you this evening.

The continuing trials and tribulations of Zimbabwe, I am sure, feel far away, and utterly disconnected from this beautiful city of Cape Town, and from your conference deliberations. I trust that you have enjoyed your visit and that the conference has been successful.

I hope my short address will help reinforce the inescapable reality that when citizens are abused, ignored and downtrodden by despotic regimes, they will ultimately seize centre stage in their quest for justice and meaningful participation in Government. This is a universal phenomenon. It is a phenomenon that is playing out dramatically in Libya, but is underway in dozens of countries.

I doubt whether the idealistic and incredible entrepreneurial founders of Apple, and social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, could have believed that their company creations and respective technologies would become some of the best weapons available for the defeat of tyrants!

But we must not digress along this train of thought. Instead, I ask you all to bear with me as I briefly explain how I - a simple White African farmer - have become the target that I am for Mugabe-s racist ZANU-PF.

I am biased, no doubt, but Charleswood Estate is probably the most beautiful farm I have ever seen. Buried deep in the Chimanimani Mountains in Eastern Manicaland, its splendour and impact on me has been as profound as the rolling hills of Ixopo in Kwa-Zulu Natal were upon the late Alan Paton in his memorable novel, 'Cry the Beloved Country-. Charleswood was a coffee estate, belonging to Lonrho. It was out on a limb, run down and in disrepair. Having been so struck with its magnificence - and the commercial opportunities it offered - I faced a crossroads, a turning point in my family-s life. A comfortable life of tobacco farming in northern Zimbabwe had to be exchanged for a new journey into the remote Chimanimani Mountains.

I am a son of Zimbabwe. I speak Shona fluently. I am continually and deeply humbled by the spontaneous generosity and innate decency of most ordinary Zimbabweans. Before moving to Charleswood, and out of respect for local culture and community hierarchy, I met with the region-s tribal leaders to discuss my plans for the rejuvenation of Charleswood. Charleswood is divided by the Zhunguniu River. To the north lies the Chikukwa Communal Lands and to the south the Ngorma Communal Lands. It is with the two chiefs of these areas that I met and, in a traditional way, made representation that I would like to purchase Charleswood. Ancestrally, the land was theirs and I could only have it once I had their endorsement, acceptance and approval. I needed to follow certain cultural and traditional practices: the respective Chiefs came to Charleswood and carried out ceremonies on three separate occasions - traditional beer was brewed, livestock was slaughtered, and for three days at a time ancestors were consulted until approval, endorsement and acceptance was conveyed to me.

I fervently wished to kick-start a vertically integrated coffee industry, and in so doing act as the catalyst for a commercially sustainable agro industry - one that would be good for me and for a desperately poor community. My life, Heather-s life, and those of our two children, have been completely turned on their heads by the whole-hearted acceptance and steadfast affection of the Chimanimani people. What an incredibly brave, principled community. I was privileged to represent them in Parliament on behalf of the MDC, before being jailed and expelled from the House of Assembly.

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