Movement for Democratic Change Treasurer-General and Deputy Agriculture minister designate Roy Bennett living in exile in South Africa since 2006 after he fled from Zimbabwe fearing persecution from an alleged assassination plot on Robert Mugabe in March 2006, has been arrested few hours before the swearing in of cabinet.
Deputy Ministers will be sworn in next week.
He was arrested at Charles Prince airport in the capital Harare Friday afternoon by detectives from the notorious CID Law and Order section and is being held at Mutare police station in Zimbabwe’s Eastern border.
Mugabe’s government controlled daily paper, The Herald reported police officers in Mutare confirming the arrest of Bennett.
“Senior police officers in the city confirmed that Bennett had been arrested but could not divulge any other information, except that the arrest was in connection with the arms cache.”(The Herald, Saturday, 14 February 2009).
The white coffee commercial farmer whose farm was seized by the Mugabe regime in 2003 returned to Zimbabwe last week after his party (MDC) nominated him to deputise the Agriculture portfolio.
In a media statement, the MDC demanded the unconditional release of Bennett saying it is against the spirit of the Government of National Unity (GNU).
“Roy Bennett must be released unconditionally and unharmed immediately. All state institutions must respect the rule of law, human rights, the spirit and letter of the Global Political Agreement and conduct themselves in such a manner that gives confidence to the inclusive government...” reads part of the statement.
MDC also reported that police fired live ammunition in the air after hundreds of MDC members and supporters surrounded Mutare police station demanding the release of Bennett.
“Police have started firing live ammunition in the air and have brought dogs in an attempt to disperse hundreds of MDC supporters that had surrounded Mutare police station in support and demanding the release of Roy Bennett,” MDC said in another statement.
Meanwhile confusion marred yesterday’s swearing in ceremony of cabinet ministers delaying it for about five hours after Mugabe attempted to increase the number of portfolios from his Zanu PF party.
Mugabe attempted to swear in 22 ministers instead of the 15 allocated to Zanu PF in the agreement.
Shortwave Radio Africa quoted an unnamed member of parliament saying the incident badly reflected of what is expected in the new government.
“We sat there for hours and we sensed there were disagreements because officials kept coming and going outside the offices of the State House. This is a bad start to this government, I pray it works because from what I saw today, I see disaster ahead,” said the unidentified official
Observers have cast doubt on the future of the unity government after the two incidents.
