A PROMINENT white commercial farmer was gunned down at his Chegutu home on Monday night.
Kobus Joubert, 67, was shot dead and his wife Mariana, 64, was assaulted by assailants who also robbed them of US$10,000 (£6,300) in cash, two mobile phones and two pistols.
When attackers beat up Joubert’s wife, they also took her laptop and allegedly accused her family of being members of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.
"We are not sure whether this murder was criminal or political, at this stage, and this is very sensitive matter for our members," said Mike Clark, who monitors unrest on remaining white-owned farms for the Commercial Farmers' Union.
"Kobus had about 50ha (123 acres) of tobacco in the ground when he died and so that has to be reaped somehow."
Joubert was one of the few remaining large scale tobacco growers left in Zimbabwe.
Two years ago, Joubert, a former president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association, was attacked by militants loyal to Mugabe.
The couple were forced to flee their home, Scottsdale farm, in the Chegutu district about 60 miles west of Harare, and set up camp in the grass alongside the Harare-Kwekwe highway for several weeks.
When the police tried to move them away, the couple protested saying that they had no other home.
The late vice President Joseph Msika, who had tried to assist several white farmers since land invasions began in 2000, secured a permit for Joubert to remain in his home and continue farming.