The Persecution Of Roy Bennett

Persecution: "cause to suffer"

Roy Bennett is a special project for Robert Mugabe. ZANU PF, under direct instruction from their leader will do anything and everything in their power to ensure that Bennett has an as uncomfortable ride as possible.

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Roy Bennett, apart from being an extremely popular person in the Chimanimani area of Zimbabwe, has been a thorn in the flesh of Mugabe for years. He is white, owned a farm (which was forcibly taken over by ZANU PF militants) and was elected to the Senate in the vicious and volatile elections of 2008.

But Mugabe had his eyes set on Bennett long before that election.

"In 2004 Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told Bennett in Parliament that Bennett's Charleswood Estate in Chimanimani would be taken by the government and resettled. Chinamasa then said: "Mr Bennett has not forgiven the government for acquiring his farm, but he forgets that his forefathers were thieves and murderers."

Bennett stood up and walked towards Chinamasa, shouting, "Unoda kundijairira iwewe! Unoda kuti ndiite sei? (Shona: Don't think you can get away with trying to take advantage of me! What do you want me to do?!) Bennett grabbed the collar of Chinamasa's shirt and wrestled him to the floor. He then tried unsuccessfully to punch Anti-Corruption Minister Didymus Mutasa who responded by kicking him. Other MPs then took out guns and threatened to start shooting if they did not stop fighting. The Sergeant at Arms escorted Bennett out of the chamber. Deputy Speaker Edna Madzongwe ejected Nelson Chamisa and Willias Madzimure for their involvement in the fight.

A bill of attainder was then passed with even the MDC being part of the parliamentary committee to investigate that incident imprisoning him for 15 months.

On 28 June 2005, Bennett was released from Chikurubi Prison after spending eight months of his twelve-month sentence in custody. It is standard prison procedure to commute a third of any sentence for good behaviour. He told reporters he had been made to stand naked in front of prison guards and was then given a prison uniform covered with human excrement when he arrived in jail. He denounced prison conditions generally in a press conference after his release, saying "The inhumanity with which the prisoners are treated and their total lack of recourse to any representation or justice combined with the filth and stench of daily life is something I will never forget and I will not rest until their conditions are improved."

Bennett declared his desire to continue in politics, saying "I am more determined than ever to continue to strive for a better Zimbabwe for all Zimbabweans, the current oppression cannot continue for much longer and sooner, rather than later, the people will assert their rights." He also said that if the opportunity arose and the people for Chimanimani asked him to, he would stand as their representative again.”

But his problems didn't stop there...

At the end of January 2009, after several years in exile, he returned to Zimbabwe to join a debate within the MDC to decide whether or not to agree to the power-sharing government with Mugabe. After the MDC ultimately agreed to share power with ZANU PF, Morgan Tsvangirai designated Bennett as Deputy Minister of Agriculture on 10 February 2009. On 13 February, he was arrested again while trying to (legally) leave Zimbabwe on a private plane at Charles Prince Airport. He was brought to police stations in Goromonzi and Mutare on that day, and is said to have suffered an attempt to drown him on the way there. He was charged with treason, and the MDC reported that he had been denied food in jail. Charges were later replaced with 'conspiring to acquire arms with a view to disrupting essential services'.

Bennett was subsequently acquitted, but the Attorney-General has appealed the acquittal and judgement in that appeal has been suspended indefinitely.

"Zimbabwe's Attorney-General Office intends is seeking the extradition of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) treasurer-general, Roy Bennett, to face contempt of court charges.

Bennett is believed to be living in self-imposed exile in South Africa.

The politician could also lose his Senate seat for violating Parliamentary rules forbidding absenteeism for 21 consecutive days.

The AG’s Office last week revealed that Bennett faces contempt of court charges, and an extradition process was currently underway."

Don't you find it galling that ZANU PF want Bennett back in Zimbabwe when his absence was caused by their infernal interference in achieving justice for Roy? Now they are trying to have Bennett extradicted to Zimbabwe, and should they get that far, I do believe that he will, once again, find himself behind bars...

"The former Chimanimani legislator is accused of saying, in media interviews, that Justice Bhunu was "totally compromised" in handling his case as a judge because he had been given a farm seized from a former white farmer as part of ZANU PF’s "political patronage".

The MDC-T over the weekend held a crisis meeting to map the way forward.

Should Bennett's seat be declared vacant, he will become the second MDC-T lawmaker since 2000 to suffer that fate; the first being former Zengeza legislator, Tafadzwa Musekiwa, who lost his seat in 2003 after being absent from Parliament for 21 consecutive days.

Musekiwa absconded to the United Kingdom."

Bennett has been accused in all manner of crimes, has been cleared by a court of law, but the appeal against his acquittal has been suspended in definitely which means that Bennett has not received adequate service from the courts.

The Attorney General himself prosecuted the case and made a right mess of it.

For me, there should have been some measure of correction handed out to the AG who attempted to hoodwink the court that a simple trench digger was an IT specialist. No punishment was handed to Tomana for the attempted subterfuge.

Robb WJ Ellis

The Bearded Man