Zimbabwe: Another Gweru Farmer Murdered
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The Gweru farming community is mourning the loss of yet another farmer
who was murdered in his home last week.
76-year-old Ray van Rensburg, an abattoir assistant at Fairhill Farm
just outside Gweru, died last Wednesday after he was attacked in his
home by intruders during the night. It's understood the intruders broke
into the house and repeatedly struck the sleeping van Rensburg on the
back of the head. They then fled with the farmer's wallet containing
just US$25.
The attack came less than a week after the funeral of Gweru farmer Bob
Vaughan-Evans, who was also murdered in his home earlier this month.
Vaughan-Evans and his wife Jean were attacked late at night in their
home by an intruder wielding an axe. The attack left Vaughan-Evans dead
and his wife unconscious. She is still recovering in hospital. The
attack on the elderly couple was the third such incident in the space of
the last six months, and the prior attack had already left Jean
wheelchair bound.
The murders have shocked the farming community, bringing back painful
memories of the brutal murders that marked the start of land 'reform'
programme in 2000. The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) has previously
denied allegations that the murders are linked to the renewed offensive
to remove the remaining commercial farmers from their land. More than
100 farmers are facing prosecution by the courts for being on their own
land, while about 80 farms have been forcibly taken over.
But CFU Vice-President Deon Theron on Monday said the possibility that
the murders are related to the onslaught against the farmers "cannot be
entirely ruled out."
"Part of this campaign to remove farmers from their land is to
demoralise farmers as much as possible," Theron said. "And you can
imagine that these murders are very demoralising for the community. So a
link between the two can never be ruled out."
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Zimbabwe farmer axed to death
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Harare: A director of Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union, Bob
Vaughan-Evans, was axed to death at his home on Friday night.
Vaughan-Evans was in his late 70s. He was killed on the eve of his wife
Jean's 80th birthday.
The couple were attacked in their home in Gweru, about 220km south-west
of Harare, where Vaughan-Evans represented the CFU in the Midlands province.
CFU president Trevor Gifford said Vaughan-Evans, a renowned
agriculturalist and conservationist, died from head wounds after he was
attacked by an intruder.
Gifford said the couple had been attacked three times in the past six
months, once for about R160. He added that he did yet know the condition
of Vaughan-Evans's wife. "She is frail and in a wheelchair after a
previous attack at their home."
Gifford added: "Bob was a very important member of the CFU team."
President Robert Mugabe began seizing thousands of white-owned farms in
2000. Now only a few hundred remain on small portions of their original
land holdings.
There has been a surge in armed and violent robberies in the country,
particularly since Zimbabwe abandoned its worthless currency in January
and started using US dollars or South African rands. - Independent
Foreign Service