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A mother cries for her son, who is said to have been beaten to death by employees of the Kakuzi agricultural company
Illustration: Matthias Schardt / Kombatrotweiss / DER SPIEGEL
The avocados grow tall, too tall.
A tool is supposed to help, a kind of gripper.
But that takes too long.
The daily target cannot be achieved in this way.
So the harvest workers climb several meters up the smooth tree trunks without any tools.
Victoria * did the same, over and over again.
Until it went wrong.
She's almost reached the avocados, wants to stretch out her hand.
But then she loses her footing and falls to the ground.
Head first.
From that moment on she has no memory.
Days later she comes to in a hospital.
Diagnosis: broken neck.
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Avocado tree in Kenya: The fruits often hang several meters high
Photo: Andrea Kuenzig / laif
Even today, two years later, her face is contorted with pain.
She is constantly plagued by severe headaches.
"After my stay in hospital, I wanted to continue working, at least to do light tasks," says Victoria.
But the gate to the Kakuzi farm is not opened for them.
"They just told me: We never want to see you here again." Allegedly, at the bedside, she received an envelope with a severance payment and even signed the receipt.
Victoria doesn't remember that, she was barely conscious.
What happened to the money - she would like to know herself.
Victoria still wears tears when she thinks about her fall.
Because with her neck, her life was also broken: She has suffered permanent brain damage, is unemployed and cannot pay the school fees for her children.
She can no longer find a new job.
"Kakuzi ruined my life," she says.
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Illustration: Matthias Schardt / Kombatrotweiss / DER SPIEGEL
Many current and former employees describe similar cases.
The British-Kenyan agricultural giant Kakuzi has been accused of serious human rights violations for years: rape, assault, manslaughter;
repeatedly discussed in the Kenyan and international media - so far without consequences.
That is changing now: some intrepid victims have brought the main shareholder of the group to court in Great Britain.
The resistance is mainly carried by women from the region.
With success: a few weeks ago the company committed to paying a sum of millions.
How did that happen?
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“Kakuzi land” as far as the eye can see: the agricultural company cultivates more than a hundred square kilometers of fertile land north of the capital Nairobi
Photo: Heiner Hoffmann / DER SPIEGEL
About an hour and a half drive north of Kenya's capital Nairobi, the name Kakuzi is omnipresent.
The Group's fertile farmland extends over more than a hundred square kilometers, planted with avocado trees, macadamia nuts and timber.
In between, huge herds of cattle.
You can drive here for more than an hour without ever leaving “Kakuzi Land”, as the locals call it.
No family in which at least one person does not work at Kakuzi.
The corporation is what Africa calls colonial heritage.
Founded at the beginning of the 20th century by white settlers, the majority still in British hands.
The demand, especially for the "super fruit" avocado, has been exploding for years, which is actually an excellent time for an agricultural company.
If it weren't for Mariam Wanja.
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Mariam Wanja brought those affected together to unite against the corporate giant Kakuzi
Photo: Heiner Hoffmann / DER SPIEGEL
"The company has only brought suffering to this country, so many workers have had accidents," she says.
Vanya worked for Kakuzi in the fields, just like her mother and her mother's mother.
But she no longer wants to ask her own children to do this.
She has become one of the leaders of the local resistance against the corporate giant.
Mariam Wanja, 68, and her colleagues have achieved something that was previously unthinkable: They brought the allegations to a court.
Not in Kenya, where the company has influence in the highest political circles.
But in Great Britain, where the main shareholder Camellia PLC is based.
The accusation: negligence - because Camellia had long known of alleged human rights violations by the Kenyan subsidiary Kakuzi.
Without acting.
"Now the guys come to me and ask for help themselves."
Mariam Wanja, organizer of the resistance against Kakuzi
And in mid-February, Mariam Wanja was able to announce good news to those affected: Camellia has committed to pay 4.6 million British pounds in compensation to the almost 80 Kenyan victims.
"Without acknowledging guilt," as the company emphasizes.
Camellia apparently did not want to wait for a judgment and instead reached an out-of-court settlement with those affected.
“Our struggle changed the view of women around here.
At the beginning the men said to me: You just make everyone very confused.
Now the guys come to me and ask for help themselves, «says Vanya.
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Kakuzi-Land begins directly behind the village; the residents live here as illegal occupiers.
They were driven from the land of their ancestors.
Photo: Heiner Hoffmann / DER SPIEGEL
In a secret place, hidden from the eyes of the Kakuzi security staff, we meet »AAA & Others«.
This is the name of the group of those affected in legal English, because their identity remained secret even during the proceedings in Great Britain.
The fear of acts of revenge or the influence of witnesses by the agricultural giant was too great.
The court documents that are available to SPIEGEL list the most serious alleged human rights violations: rape, assault, even manslaughter.
If you see the tears in the eyes of "AAA & Others", you hear their fragile voices, the extent of the allegations becomes tangible.
We give women a name, even if it's not their real one.
We give them a picture, even if it's only drawn.
Muthoni
"I didn't shower for three days," Muthoni * remembers exactly.
Because she wanted to secure evidence, that's what she calls it.
Evidence in the form of semen in her body.
Muthoni was raped by a Kakuzi security guard, she says.
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Illustration: Matthias Schardt / Kombatrotweiss / DER SPIEGEL
“I was going to collect firewood in the forest in the Kakuzi area, so he stopped me.
He blocked my way and said: 'Do you want to steal here?
Today you will see what happens to women like you. ”“ Now Muthoni is HIV positive.
But the police were never interested in their evidence.
She was turned away three days in a row.
“So I let it be.
Kakuzi is very powerful here, ”says Muthoni.
She is all the more satisfied with the outcome of the proceedings in England.
She calls it "a piece of justice".
“Suddenly we have a voice.
I am not an isolated incident.
So many here never talk about sexual violence, out of shame or fear.
I want to open my mouth for her too. "
Grace
Grace * wanted to collect leaves on Kakuzi land for traditional medicine.
Suddenly a security guard appeared, in a Kakuzi uniform and with a mask over his face.
He grabbed her tightly by both hands when cursed as a thief.
He will call the police if they are not "available", Grace describes the situation.
He tried to tear her skirt off.
"I kicked him hard in the balls, tore myself away," she recalls.
She got away with it.
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Illustration: Matthias Schardt / Kombatrotweiss / DER SPIEGEL
Grace couldn't move her hands for weeks after that.
“The perpetrator twisted her so much, the pain was unbearable.
Then I cooked with my mouth, the wooden spoon between my teeth. ”Grace also bears psychological scars: She has stayed away from people since the day in the forest and has anxiety disorders.
The court case in Great Britain gave her courage again: "I will use the money to buy farm animals and build my own business." Above all, however, she was finally able to tell her story, albeit anonymously.
The corporation could no longer ignore them.
“Now the security guards are afraid of us.
Because all women now know that they can report such cases.
When we stand together, we are stronger than them. "
Caroline
In the morgue it became clear to Caroline * for the first time: her son is dead. Even if the body lying in front of her on the stretcher hardly remembered him.
The head disfigured, the body full of wounds.
“He was my firstborn, a wonderful son, a free spirit,” Caroline recalls.
And she raises serious allegations: Kakuzi employees beat him to death.
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Illustration: Matthias Schardt / Kombatrotweiss / DER SPIEGEL
The late twenties wanted to collect firewood on Kakuzi land.
“You normally pay the security guards a small thing, she bribes.
Then they let you pass.
But on some days there are too many to give everyone, «reports Caroline.
So her son and his two companions were stopped - as alleged avocado thieves.
Violent death - so it is in the commissioned autopsy report.
The young man's two companions were lucky, they were faster.
And so at least they were able to report the alleged crime to the parents.
Caroline's son became a key case in the UK High Court of Justice.
“The money won't bring me my son back.
But I was able to help ensure that hopefully no other mother ever has to feel this pain again. "
Muthoni, Grace, Caroline.
They are three victims out of a total of 79 who have brought Kakuzi to court for alleged human rights violations.
Merged by Mariam Wanja, supported by the human rights organizations Ndula Resource Center, Kenya Human Rights Commission and SOMO.
The expulsion
It is only the most recent allegations that have been heard in England.
The all-encompassing structural problem behind it remains unsolved: displacement.
Because where today Kakuzi grows avocados, where the locals secretly collect wood and leaves, there used to be houses and huts.
In the fertile plains in the north of Nairobi, people lived well from subsistence farming and cattle breeding until the colonial era.
Until the white settlers came.
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Loisa Syokau and Kamande Muchema experienced the expulsions themselves
Photo: Heiner Hoffmann / DER SPIEGEL
Loisa Syokau is around 80 years old, so she doesn't really know herself.
The weeks when the colonial rulers suddenly invaded their village, however, are still very much alive.
“At first it was said that nobody is allowed to own more than five animals.
They took the rest away from us. ”That was in the forties.
“It got worse from week to week.
Finally they started burning down our huts. ”Sitting next to her is Kamande Muchema, confirming her story.
The villagers finally fled up to the barren hills above "Kakuzi Land".
From here you can look down on your former home, above you a power line that hums continuously.
To this day they live here as tolerated occupiers on land that belongs to the government.
They never got any compensation or even new land.
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An employee of the Ndula Resource Center (left) and a resident of the Kakuzi Hills look at the fertile land from which the people were driven
Photo: Heiner Hoffmann / DER SPIEGEL
“We had everything down on the plain.
We can hardly grow anything up here.
The colonial era never stopped in these hills, «says Loisa Syokau.
When someone in the village falls ill, four men have to open a sack and carry the patient down into the valley for several hours.
“My daughter miscarried this way.
My sons ran off to Nairobi and became criminals.
I would like to tell you Europeans: our blood sticks to your avocados. "
The opinion
Kakuzi replied sharply to SPIEGEL's questions by email.
It is about very serious allegations that concern criminal offenses - "they shouldn't be brought lightly by anyone," writes the company.
Most of the cases were never reported to the Kenyan investigative authorities, and Kakuzi himself was not part of the proceedings in Great Britain.
Therefore, the company itself has now forwarded all allegations to the attorney general, who then initiated police investigations.
Why were the alleged human rights violations actually not indicted in Kenya, but in distant England?
Mary Kambo from the Kenya Human Rights Commission explains this with the company's influence on site: »Kakuzi can simply buy his way out here, they work hand in hand with the authorities.
Important documents and evidence simply disappear or are confiscated.
We have tried long enough to solve the problems on the ground.
It doesn't work. "
In the statement, Kakuzi also states that adequate compensation is always paid after work accidents.
The company does not support discrimination and continues to employ many people who have suffered accidents at work.
The government is responsible for land issues.
The consequences
Several supermarkets in England have already removed the Group's products from their range because of the serious allegations against Kakuzi, and are awaiting comprehensive clarification and reforms.
That is not enough for Loisa Syokau, Mariam Wanja and the other women.
You want to keep fighting.
Until "Kakuzi-Land" is their land again.
* We have changed the names of the protagonists at their request and for their protection.
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