Upset over latest Zimbabwe farm death

Kathy Olds has sought asylum in the UK

The widow of a white farmer shot dead during land rights protests last year has said she is devastated at the news of the killing of her mother-in-law on her farm in Zimbabwe.

Gloria Olds, 68, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on her farm near Bulawayo, where she had lived alone since her son, Martin, was killed last year.

She was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds on Sunday.

Mr Olds's widow, Kathy, who fled to Britain with her two children after her husband's murder, is now being comforted by friends. She has sought political asylum in Britain.

"Kathy has had just a year to get over Martin's death and now she has to face this. She is devastated," a close friend told PA news agency.

Relatives are blaming self-styled war veterans for the shooting, but police are treating the incident as murder and armed robbery.

Violence

Mrs Olds is the eighth white farmer amongst more that 30 Zimbabweans who have died in politically related violence in the past year.

Farm occupations were backed by the government

Her son, Martin, was the second white farmer killed when squatters began taking over white-owned land with the encouragement of President Robert Mugabe.

The murder of Gloria Olds comes as the government's campaign to seize white-owned farms for redistribution is being stepped up.

Last week, the government succeeded in forcing the country's chief justice, Anthony Gubbay, to agree to take early retirement after he had ruled against the forcible seizure of white-owned farms.

David Coltart, a friend of the Olds family and an opposition MP, has said he believes the murder is political.

"I have no doubt that (the latest killing) is politically motivated and is designed to provoke farmers into reacting, to give the government grounds to clamp down further and intimidate the farming community," he said.