Zimbabwe opposition supporters beat up two men wearing shirts with the logo of the ruling ZANU-PF at a rally in a government stronghold yesterday, while four more white farms in the south were invaded.
Witnesses said police rescued the two men and rushed them to hospital and detained a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporter at the rally attended by 3,000 in a key ZANU-PF stronghold.
To loud applause, the MDC leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, blamed President Robert Mugabe for the poor state of the economy and the invasion of hundreds of white-owned farms by veterans of the 1970s liberation war and ZANU-PF supporters since February.
"Mugabe has told people they can invade farms, but if we have no tobacco, we have no foreign currency, which is why the country is suffering with things like fuel shortages," he said. "ZANU-PF has created an environment where everyone now lives in fear. Because of this, farm-workers cannot work and business is declining." The Commercial Farmers' Union, grouping the country's 4,500 white farmers, reported yesterday that two farms near Mwenezi and two in Matabeleland had been invaded by veterans who staked out their claims and then left.
The former South African president, Mr Nelson Mandela, appeared to refer to Mr Mugabe when he criticised Africa's tyrannical leaders on Saturday. Speaking in Johannesburg, he urged people to speak out and overthrow leaders clinging to power for fear of prosecution for their actions in power. "The tyrants of today can be destroyed by you and I am confident that you have the capacity to do so," he said.
Witnesses said MDC supporters and police traded shouted insults at yesterday's rally, but it ended peacefully.
Mr Tsvangirai said earlier a police vehicle was burned and another stoned during an overnight clash between his supporters and police. He accused the police of intimidating people into not attending the rally in the southern town of Masvingo, the home turf of a senior minister in Mugabe's cabinet.
A white farmer in Zimbabwe died today after he was beaten unconscious by suspected liberation war veterans leading the violent seizures of white-owned farms.
Mr Alan Dunn was the first white farmer to be attacked in two weeks and the third to die since veterans of the 1970s war against white rule began invading farms in February.