Zimbabwean white farmer shot dead

A white Zimbabwean farmer has been shot dead and his son injured in an attack near their farm.

Seventy-year-old Henry Elsworth, who is also a former member of parliament and a close associate of former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith, was killed in an ambush outside his farm in Kwekwe, 200km south west of Harare.

Mr Elsworth's son Ian was also shot as gunmen opened fire on their car at the gate of their farm.

Mr Mugabe does not expect a challenge at the congress

The killing came as members of the ruling Zanu-PF party gathered for a special congress to consider their near defeat in parliamentary elections in June.

Five farmers and 26 other people have been killed during invasions of white-owned farms by supporters of Zanu-PF since the campaign for last June's parliamentary elections began.

The Commercial Farmers' Union was unable to confirm whether the killing could be attributed to the ongoing occupation of the farms.

But Ian Elsworth, who was shot at least five times in the leg and the grain, identified the gunmen as war veterans.

He added that his father had received numerous death threats in recent months and had even left the country briefly in the hope that tensions surrounding the occupations would die down.

"He was a defenseless old man on crutches. They shot him down," he said.

Spotlight on Mugabe

Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge described the latest killing as regrettable but brushed aside suggestions that the rule of law had broken down.

President Mugabe might try to crush dissent at the congress, but he cannot crush it in the country. Those who he crushes will simply join the rest of society that is dissenting

Dr Masipula Sithole

The incident comes as the ruling party begins an extraordinary congress to assess its performance in the June elections and with President Robert Mugabe struggling to maintain his authority.

Zanu-PF narrowly saw off a challenge from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) after a violent campaign with allegations of widespread intimidation.

The question of whether Mr Mugabe will stand in the 2002 presidential election is not on the congress agenda, and he has managed to crush party dissent by dissolving several provincial party executives.

Dissent

Mr Mugabe made his name as a revolutionary hero in the 1970s in a civil war against Ian Smith's white minority government, and has faced little real opposition since coming to power in 1980.

But with an unprecedented economic crisis, an unpopular war in the Congo and the recent success of the MDC, Mr Mugabe's standing has fallen in the country as a whole.

And an October survey by local affiliates of Gallup International suggested that nearly three-quarters of Zimbabweans wanted him to step down, while about half thought he should be impeached.

"There is pervasive dissent," political scientist Dr Masipula Sithole told the South African Mail & Guardian.

"He might try to crush dissent at the congress, but he cannot crush it in the country. Those who he crushes will simply join the rest of society that is dissenting."