The Telegraph
By Sebastien Berger and Peta Thornycroft in Harare
15 February 2009
Zimbabwe’s new power-sharing government will be put to the test on Monday when the treasurer of the Movement for Democratic Change appears in court charged after being charged with attempted terrorism.
Roy Bennett, a former white farmer whose coffee plantation was stolen during President Robert Mugabe’s land seizures, had been named as deputy agriculture minister but was arrested on Friday, hours before the new cabinet was sworn in.
The spectacle will offer an indication of whether the unity government with Mr Mugabe will work, and grist to the mill of critics of the agreement, who believe that Zimbabwe’s ageing president – who turns 85 this week – cannot be trusted.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader and Zimbabwe’s prime minister, blamed hardliners in Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party who were looking to sabotage the new authority.
The arrest “undermines the spirit of our agreement,” he said. “It is very important to maintain the momentum of our agreement. We have to budget for some residual resistance from those who see this deal as a threat to their interest.”
It is not the first time Mr Bennett has been held. A long-standing opponent and victim of Mr Mugabe’s regime, on one occasion in his home town, Chimanimani, his screams could be heard in the street outside the Central Intelligence Organisation offices as he was tortured. He has served a prison sentence for shoving over the then justice minister Patrick Chinamasa in parliament.
After his latest arrest, at an airfield outside Harare, he was taken to Mutare, in eastern Zimbabwe. His lawyer, Trust Mhanda, said yesterday that his client would appear in court today (mon) accused of attempting to commit terrorism, banditry and sabotage.
At first police interrogated him for attempting to leave the country, then treason, before finally settling on the charges, said Mr Mhanda.
“The police must have realised that they had no leg to stand on,” he said of the treason accusation. “Their case would not hold water.”
Shots were fired in the air by police to disperse hundreds of MDC supporters who surrounded Mutare police station on Friday night, the party said.
The new charges relate to discredited claims dating from 2006 of a plot to sabotage essential services, with Mr Bennett supposedly involved in funding the purchase of arms and explosives. He denies the accusations and believes they are politically motivated, Mr Mhanda added.
Peter Hitschmann, a German-born Zimbabwean, is currently serving a prison sentence in connection with the alleged plot, having been accused of trying to create a military cell to topple Mr Mugabe.
A member of the army testified against him and around a dozen weapons, mostly automatic firearms, and piles of ammunition were shown off in court in Mutare.
Hitschmann was convicted of holding unlicensed weapons, and according to his barrister Eric Matinenga – now an MDC minister – Mr Bennett’s name never came up at the trial.
David Coltart, the MDC’s education minister and a lawyer himself, said: “Roy Bennett came back to the country openly and demonstrated, in that, that he has no intention to evade the authorities, and to that extent one questions why they had to arrest him in the way they did.
“It appears to be in breach of the spirit of the political agreement. The manner in which this has been done smacks of vindictiveness and possibly an intention by hawks in Zanu PF to cause the unity government to fail.”
In a statement the MDC said: “These charges have long been discredited and shown to be fictitious. Clearly they are on a fishing expedition, clutching at straws and know fully well that there is no basis, even suspicion, at law to charge Roy Bennett.”