By Violet Gonda
14 July, 2005

In Zimbabwe a person can go to jail for telling the truth. Thursday saw a Chinhoyi public prosecutor making Sarah Chapman pay a fine of $1m for sending "offensive materials" to Mashonaland West Governor Nelson Samkange, who stole her farm. She had sent him a number of text messages, quoting from the Bible, and admitted to calling him a thief in one of the texts. Mrs. Chapman was charged with sending him 37 text messages deemed offensive. The material included verses like "thou shall not steal and "your sins would be punished."

The fine was imposed despite the fact that the governor illegally evicted the Chapmans from their Rukoba farm and refused to allow them to reclaim their property even though they had a court order. Her husband Bruce told us that Sarah ended up pleading guilty because "you don't know if you are fighting politics or the justice system and victims are not sure of how to plead." He went on to say, "she should have pleaded not guilty because she wasn't actually guilty of anything that couldn't be done in most other parts of the world, but she was terrified of going to jail."

Last year the Governor raided the farm and gave the family 24 hours to pack up and go. Narrating her ordeal Sarah Chapman said, "On the 25th August he (Governor) called Bruce to his office and told him to get off the farm, Bruce asked him how long we had to get off and Samkange replied "yesterday". He also said that if we didn't go quietly he would have Bruce beaten, even killed. Youth were quickly deployed to the farm, as well as policemen, at least two with guns, and a person from the President's office. We packed up in a day and a half but were not allowed to take anything away until the house had been inspected. Mrs. Samkange arrived to do the inspection and toured the house with her entourage. She was very angry after the tour and demanded that all the furniture be offloaded and put back in the house, saying we could not take it to London. It was made from Zimbabwean trees she said. After a lot of negotiation we were allowed to leave with the furniture but had to leave all garden equipment, some office furniture and a computer."

The Chapmans say they will proceed with a civil case against the governor for theft and loss of property.