THE main farmers’ union has tied the murder of a commercial farmer on his property in Chegutu to the “flagrant disregard for the rule of law in these areas over the last ten years” – strongly hinting the murder was political.
Kobus Jourbet was shot dead on Monday night by unknown assailants on his farm, Scotsdale, about 95 kilometres south west of Harare.
At least 13 white farmers have been killed since the start of land invasions in 2000, mainly spearheaded by veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war.
The Commercial Farmers’ Union said: “The shooting at point blank range of another white farmer in the Selous district of Zimbabwe again highlights the deteriorating situation currently being faced in the rural farming areas.
“This is a symptom of the flagrant disregard for the rule of law in these areas over the last ten years and the CFU urgently requests that the authorities take immediate action.”
Joubert, who was in his sixties, was a former president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA).
His wife, Mariaan, was awoken shortly after midnight by a noise and went to investigate. She was attacked by two armed men in the bathroom and shouted to her husband to warn him of the intruders.
The men then forced her to keep quiet and she heard a single shot being fired in the bedroom.
When she screamed, they assaulted her and demanded money. They then took her handbag, searched the cupboards and pocketed “a sizeable amount of US dollars in cash”, the CFU said in a statement.
They also grabbed three cell phones and demanded that she hand over the laptop. Fortunately, the power failed, causing the lights to go out and the men immediately left the house without causing further injury or taking the laptop.
She rushed to help her husband but he had already succumbed to a fatal gunshot wound.
“Neighbours called the police, who on this occasion arrived to investigate,” the CFU said, conveying a sense of frustration at what it sees as law enforcement’s failure to deal with violent crime targeting its members.
The CFU said prior to the land invasions, Joubert farmed 500ha of land but this year, “given the insecurity of the situation in the commercial farming sector”, he planted just 50ha of tobacco, down from around 70ha last year. He also grew a small crop of maize and sorghum and had a herd of beef cattle.
In August 2008, Joubert, his wife and some of their farm workers were evicted from their farm and ended up camping on the roadside in a lay-by with their few meager possessions.
Later that month the Jouberts’ application to the High Court was successful and the illegal orders granted to the beneficiary by a magistrate’s court were annulled, enabling the couple to return to their farm.
When Joubert was president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association, tobacco was the country’s most important cash crop and the ZTA members used to generate 40 percent of the country’s export earnings.
The Joubert’s son is flying in from Australia on Friday to support his mother; his sister is already at her side, the CFU said.