Zimbabwe’s key opposition leader, Roy Bennett and four other people were killed in a helicopter crash in a remote area of the U.S. state of New Mexico, officials and his political party said on Thursday.
The 60-year-old died alongside his wife, Heather Bennett. Police say the pilot, James Coleman Dodd of Colorado, co-pilot, Paul Cobb of Texas and wealthy businessman Charles Ryland Burnett also died in the crash.
Bennett was a former treasurer general of the opposition Movement of Democratic Change (MDC). During Mugabe’s dictatorial rule, Bennett served time in prison.
The party described Bennett as a charismatic grassroots politician and successful farmer in the country’s eastern Chimanimani District. He was fluent in Zimbabwe’s Shona language, it said, and had helped hundreds of impoverished villagers pay school fees for their children, the report said.
Though white, Bennett fought for the rights of black Zimbabweans, the party said, and had the nickname “Pachedu,” a Shona word that translates as “together” or “one of us”
A statement issued by MDC reffered to Bennett as a resolute and committed fighter for democratic change in Zimbabwe.
In an interview with CNN recently, Bennett said that Zimbabwe would never again let itself be ruled by a dictatorship, Reuters reports.
