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Mr. Bellingham: Does my hon. Friend not agree that the police and many other public servants who stayed on after the unilateral declaration of independence remained loyal to the Crown and built up pension rights? Now, however, everything has been lost.

Mr. Howarth: Indeed. I make no apology for raising the matter, as it is unfortunate that the Government, who accept that they have a duty to provide food aid to men, women and children who are being starved by Mugabe, do not think that they have a duty to people on whom they were dependent for delivering the agreement struck at Lancaster house. Even if a trust was not implied—the Foreign Office rejects that argument—Her Majesty's Government were the legal Government at the time of the handover to Zimbabwe and, as the holder of pension contributions, owe those people a duty of care worth much more than just the remittance of those pensions. My noble Friend Lord Trefgarne wrote to the then Government on 20 December 1979, referring to "full safeguards and remittability", but remittability is only part of the issue of the safeguarding of pensions.

The Government owe these people a debt of honour. It would not cost a huge amount, but if they accept that they have a duty to the victims of Mugabe's terror regime, I hope that they will step up to the mark and accept that they have a duty to discharge towards people who did not work for profit in the private sector but were public servants who sought to serve the people of Zimbabwe and played a critical role during the transition. That debt ought to be repaid by the Government.

4.26 pm

Ms Julia Drown (South Swindon) (Lab): I am pleased to have the opportunity to convey to the House my constituents' concerns about Zimbabwe, where the situation is appalling, as Members on both sides of the House have said. There are worsening attacks on press freedom and horrific human rights abuses directed at ordinary members of the democratic opposition, who should be able to challenge the regime. We have heard worrying statistics that 90 per cent. of opposition MPs
 
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have been subject to human rights abuses, 16 per cent. have been tortured, and three have died after being assaulted.

We might hope to look forward to next year's parliamentary elections, but the prospects are not good, as by-elections in April and May clearly showed that conditions in the country are not conducive to free and fair elections. If there is anything that we can do either as parliamentarians or by applying ministerial pressure we should do so to make sure that in those elections people enjoy the right to express their views. The international community does not yet have the powers to represent ordinary people. Members will be aware that people in Zimbabwe do not support what is going on. It is for Africa to deal with the problem but, distressingly, it lacks the political will to do so at a time when it is at the forefront of many international debates. African countries would raise objections if the issue were raised at the UN Security Council, so there is a genuine test for the New Partnership for Africa's Development and the new Commission for Africa. If we cannot focus on turning the situation around in Zimbabwe, UN resolutions and other procedures should be adopted to protect ordinary people.

I recognise that the Government have taken action on Zimbabwe. It is clear that our food and humanitarian aid is keeping many people alive in that country, and we are the biggest cash donor. I should like to push for more aid to and support for Zimbabwe. I should like to call on the Government to do more and to set a timetable to spend 0.7 per cent. of our income on international aid, but I can see why Zimbabwe does not make a good case for that. I understand why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development wants to spend money only on humanitarian aid there. To do more might be seen as support for the Mugabe regime. However, there is no reason why we should not set a timetable to achieve the goal of spending 0.7 per cent. of our income on international aid. Unfortunately, there is so much poverty in the world and so much that we could do that there is a clear case for us to do so.

For Zimbabwe, we need to concentrate on providing food aid and helping the AIDS victims, which I am pleased the Government are doing, particularly looking after the 700,000 AIDS orphans. I am pleased also that we have done more to support those who are bravely trying to stand up to the Mugabe regime—the trade unionists, lawyers and civil rights activists. When representatives of those people from Zimbabwe were here in Central Lobby, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development met them and spoke to them. They very much appreciated his presence.

Several hon. Members have mentioned the fact that we give asylum to those persecuted by Mugabe. Yes, we do give them asylum, but as constituency MPs we all know of such people who would like to have their family members join them in the UK, but they cannot. That gives the lie to the claims made about how easy it is to come to this country, and shows how difficult that is, which is not the impression that one gains from most of our newspapers. The study of individual cases would make clear the asylum and immigration policies that we run.
 
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I am pleased that, working with the European Union, we have imposed restrictions, particularly the travel ban and assets freeze, on Mugabe and some of his close colleagues. That supports the case for working with the EU on such issues. The more international support we can get for those policies, the greater the impact we will eventually have on Zimbabwe. If we adopted an isolationist stance, we would not achieve as much.

I am concerned about the general position. My work with heavily indebted poor countries leads me to deal with a number of neighbours of Zimbabwe. Through those contacts I hear of the plight of ordinary people there. Other hon. Members have mentioned that members of the Zimbabwean regime say that food aid is not needed, yet according to non-governmental organisations, including the Zimbabwe vulnerability assessment committee, an estimated 2.3 million people will need food aid this year. How can those such as Mugabe, supposedly representing his people, say that everything is fine, when he knows that by doing so he will delay the arrival of food aid, should it be needed? It seems that it will be much needed.

I turn to the reasons why we should do more with our international partners. When we had a visit from the Zimbabwe high commissioner I met him and some of his colleagues to express concern about the horrific human rights abuses taking place in Zimbabwe. I was appalled by the response that we got. Every criticism that we, as parliamentarians, made of the Zimbabwean regime was flung back in our faces, as though every problem in Zimbabwe was a result of its colonial history and of what British Governments in the past had done. Even when we said that, for all the wrongs of colonialism, there was no way that one could associate the torture and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe now with its colonial history, they did not listen. That brought home to me how vulnerable Britain is in terms of leading the protest on Zimbabwe. I could see how the Mugabe regime might relish some of our criticism and want to use it as ammunition in their own country, and how Mugabe might say, "This is the big old colonial power coming back to have another go at my people, but I, the great ruler of Zimbabwe, will stand up for you." That is a real and huge danger. I was disappointed that there were not more parliamentarians at the meeting to push the case, but those of us who were there did do so. The response that we got was frightening, but it showed how, in trying to get Zimbabwe to change, it is fundamental to get the neighbours on board; to get Africa on board. They are the only people who will make Mugabe and his regime change.

That does not mean that we can do nothing. That is why the Government are trying to get those partners on board. It is probably not helpful if we are seen to lead the protests, but we need to encourage others to lead the way on this. This is undoubtedly a serious issue, and I urge the Government to do everything possible to put pressure on Zimbabwe and to get others to do so. Several Members have made good suggestions that I hope the Government will address, both in replying to the debate today and in determining policy. I am pleased that we were among the first to introduce targeted measures, such as the arms embargo in 2000, and that the EU played a big part internationally with measures such as asset freezing and travel restrictions, which have
 
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recently been renewed with the number of people prevented from travelling being increased. However, I urge the Government to do more wherever possible.

Ultimately, this is about the ordinary people in Zimbabwe who are being let down by the international community. They are suffering under Mugabe's appalling regime and if we can do anything more to help them, we should do so.

4.37 pm

Mr. Henry Bellingham (North-West Norfolk) (Con): I agree with the criticism made by the hon. Member for South Swindon (Ms Drown) of the Zimbabwe high commissioner to London, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi. He wrote me one of the most supine, absurd letters that I have ever read in my life. He lives in a different world altogether.

We have seen the total disruption of the rule of law, the totalitarian state is now complete and tyranny is fully entrenched. Many examples of that have been given today, in particular by my hon. Friends the Members for Macclesfield (Sir Nicholas Winterton) and for Aldershot (Mr. Howarth). I also recognise the points made by the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Mr. Wyatt) in his very good speech.

I should like to refer to one or two of the most appalling incidents in this sad and tragic country. A human rights lawyer called Gabriel Shumba, a thoroughly upstanding member of Zimbabwe society, who had often spoken out about the wrongs in that society, was called on to defend an MDC Member of Parliament who had had certain threats and accusations made against him. While he was consulting his client he was seized by armed police and held in a prison cell, then he was removed, shoved into a yellow vehicle with his head covered in a black hood and taken away to an unknown place. He was thrown down three flights of stairs, stripped naked, shackled by his hands and feet and abused and assaulted for many hours. He eventually sought asylum in South Africa, from where he bravely speaks out on behalf of the many different Zimbabweans who have sought asylum abroad and who want to return to Zimbabwe one day.

My hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield spoke at some length about the agricultural and farming sector in Zimbabwe. He was right to do so, because that part of the productive capacity of the country has been subject to premeditated destruction. Previous debates on Zimbabwe in this House and in Westminster Hall have been dominated by events in the agricultural sector, and I do not want to add to those points today, except to comment on one aspect of that appalling situation that has not received any coverage in the press here.

Zimbabwe recently made international news by announcing the nationalisation of all land. What did not make the news, however, was the Acquisition of Farm Equipment or Materials Bill, despite the parliamentary legal committee in the Zimbabwe Parliament's unanimous declaration that five clauses of that Bill are unconstitutional. All opposition MPs walked out of Parliament in protest when it came to a vote, but the Bill was passed. The Bill allows the state compulsorily to
 
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acquire farm equipment and materials, and it forbids farmers from selling, dismantling, removing or destroying their property, which obviously includes tractors, ploughs, irrigation equipment, machinery, seed and fertilizer. That is just one more step on the way to the absolute breakdown of the rule of law.

A number of hon. Members mentioned the situation in Zimbabwe's schools, which affects not only the small number of white people in Zimbabwe, but many millions of black people. A couple of months ago, the Education Minister ordered the closure of all private schools. He said that those schools were racist, and that they threw out African pupils by hiking up their fees, but he did not say that 90 per cent. of pupils in Zimbabwe's private schools are black—virtually all Zimbabwean Ministers and civil servants send their children to such schools. Those schools may well survive, but they have not been allowed to put up their prices. A number of them are still closed, and they are suffering serious difficulties.

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