A white farmer has been killed in Zimbabwe, but police believe her death came during a botched robbery, and is not the latest incident of farm killings which peaked in the early 2000s during Zimbabwe’s oft-violent land reforms.
The victim has been named as Rene Mitchell, a 44-year-old who lived with her husband at Mantlavina Farm in Beatrice, a farming community 55km south-west of Harare.
TRENDING:
- MNANGAGWA CORNERED TO COMPENSATE WHITE FARMERS
- White farmer enlists US federal court in enforcing US$277m arbitral award against Zimbabwe
- Zimbabwe fails to raise US$1.75bn to compensate former commercial white farmers
- Zimbabwe commercial White farmers returning to once-seized land
- White Farmers Quietly Returning To Their Farms
- Zimbabwe to Pick Adviser by Christmas to Help Raise $3.5 Billion for white farmer compensation
- Zimbabwe liberation war veterans sue government over plan to compensate white farmers
- Zimbabwe says white farmers can apply to get back seized land
- Zimbabwe’s Displaced White Farmers Wait for $3.5 Billion Compensation
- Rebel group rejects Zimbabwe govt’s US$3,5 billion white farmers compensation
Police said Mitchell woke up at around 2AM after hearing a disturbance outside. She armed herself with a Bruno 22 rifle and went outside to investigate.
“She was shot in the back and died on the spot,” national police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said.
Rene’s husband was being treated in hospital after suffering injuries during the attack.
In early 2000, Zimbabwe began a programme to seize land from about 4,000 white farmers. The land grabs sometimes turned violent, and over a dozen farmers died in the confrontations.
Attacks on farmers are not common in Zimbabwe, but a wave of armed robberies gripping the country suggest targets are carefully picked based on their perceived wealth and social status.
Source – zimlive
