Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe seems to be ignoring any pretense of power sharing with the opposition party, the MDC. This comes on the heels of a South African brokered deal to maintain a coalition government with the country’s elected Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Mugabe’s pretense is best demonstrated by the recent arrest of a leading member of the MDC, Roy Bennett.
Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvanairai and the President and Prime Minister respectively, were sworn in on Friday, February 13th. Just hours before, Mr. Bennett was arrested as he was heading to the swearing in ceremony. Mr. Bennett, a white farmer, was the MDC’s designated Minister of Agriculture. Returning from exile in South Africa, Mr. Bennett has been charged with treason, a popular charge used by Mugabe’s security forces. This follows the arrest of more than 30 other MDC officials in recent months by the police and the Law and Order Section of the Mugabe government on similar charges.
Since his arrest and detention at the Mutare police station in the eastern part of the country, demonstrators have gathered outside the police station and are holding a vigil until Mr. Bennett is released. These are well founded fears that Mr. Bennett will be tortured or killed by the security forces. There have been reports today that heavily armed police inside the facility have been shooting at protesters nearby. According to This Is Zimbabwe, as of 7:30 Zimbabwe time, Mr. Bennett’s lawyers report that:
[T]he police are now saying they cannot lay formal charges for now, and will try and work out formal charges on Monday. This clearly indicates that the treason charges are scandalous, frivolous, vexatious and have no basis in law, but are simply politically motivated. These charges have been long discredited and have been shown, like all treason charges leveled against MDC leadership, to be driven by vindictive political motives.”
Mr. Bennett is currently being held at a police station in the town of Mutare, located on the eastern border of Zimbabwe. Global Investment Watch has been unable to reach Zimbabwe embassy officials in Washington for comments.
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