Little is known about the Davy family apart from Charles Davy’s alleged business links. The media vilifies Chelsy’s father for his supposed dealings with Zimbabwean despot, Robert Mugabe. In fact, Chelsy’s family has done much and been through a great deal for Zimbabwe.
Chelsy's mother, Beverley is a Donald by birth. Her parents, Fay and George, now live in Harare but they once ran a successful family business, farming tobacco, cattle and maize. The Donald family were stalwarts of the Yeadon area for over 40 odd years. Yeadon is located north of the nation's capital Harare and close to the border with Zambia.
The Donald’s had invested so much of their time and money into the area, having built their farms from scratch in 1958. For them, this was their entire life and a legacy for their family. Their 3000 acre farm was also a life blood for the areas local population, employing people to work on the farm and to sell crops and animal products worth over $2.5m ZIM.
Early in 2002, the Donald’s received a "section 5" notice stating that the government intended to acquire the farm. They then received an additional notice, a "section 8" detailing that the land was now acquired by the government and they, the Donald's had a few days to leave. The notice informed Fay & George that they were not to take anything but their clothes and movables. Fearing for their lives, Chelsy’s maternal grandparents left their farmstead early in 2002.
The destruction of the Donald family's farm was complete. Some staff ran in fear of their lives and others were ordered to leave by the government sanctioned intruders, else they’d be "forcefully relocated". On their return, the Donald’s found their belongings either stolen or completely destroyed.
Their 2 farmsteads were completely gutted and so significantly damaged that to fix them would be costly and hopeless. Ian Donald, Chelsy’s maternal uncle, described the farmsteads as "gutted so badly that all that is left are shells with roofs on". He said "They gutted them in such a way as to make the dwellings uninhabitable."
The estimated amount of damage was unbelievable. The value of the goods and fittings destroyed or stolen was over $7m ZIM. The looters stole all the light fittings, numerous built-in cupboards, all the windows, ceiling boards, fitted carpets, two kitchen sinks, electricity boxes, kitchen floor tiles, three baths, showers, four toilets, 38 doors including a locked strong room door and safe, a locked internal metal door, four fridges, a large deep freeze, stoves, and about 13 beds with headboards.
Mr Donald insisted that the Zimbabwean government had sanctioned the looting. He said "We presume that a police or army vehicle with a whole lot of personnel did it. No one else has the resources." Mustering as much good humour as he could, Ian Donald said "I suspect they will probably return and take the roof.”
This destruction and the loss of family belongings was only secondary to the waste of years of back breaking hard work by the Donald family.
Summing up the sentiments of many of Zimbabwe's misplaced white farmers, Ian Donald said "My family have lost everything. They have got nothing more to lose."