Court orders Bennett back to jail

MUTARE, Zimbabwe — A Zimbabwe court on Wednesday ordered ministerial nominee Roy Bennett — a close aide to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai — back to jail until his terrorism trial begins next week.

Magistrate Lucy Mungwari announced the trial will start next Monday in the high court of the eastern town Mutare and told the court: “The accused person shall be committed to prison” until it begins.

The Movement for Democratic Change treasurer, a white coffee grower whose property was expropriated under the country’s controversial land reform laws, was Tsvangirai’s pick as deputy agriculture minister.

But the fiesty Bennett, who was implicated in an alleged attempt to assassinate Zimbabwe’s longserving ruler Robert Mugabe, was arrested just an hour before Mugabe swore in a unity government on February 13.

Bennett is accused of possessing arms for the purposes of banditry, terrorism and inciting acts of insurgency.

The case became a symbol of the challenges facing the new partnership of Tsvangirai with long-time rival Mugabe after disputed polls pushed the country into deeper economic and political chaos.

Last month state media quoted Mugabe telling a European Union delegation on a landmark visit that the only issue that could be regarded as outstanding for the unity government was Bennett’s swearing-in.

“We have not taken the post away from MDC-T (Tsvangirai). We have simply said if he is cleared (by the courts) he will be appointed the next day but if he is not, tough luck,” the Herald newspaper reported Mugabe as saying.

Bennett’s release on bail was ordered by the Supreme Court in March after weeks of legal wrangling following his arrest shortly after his return from neighbouring South Africa.

In 2006, Bennett fled to South Africa to escape arrest after being implicated in an alleged plot to kill Mugabe.

However, his other co-accused, including the new co-minister for home affairs Giles Mutsekwa, were cleared by the courts which discredited the alleged plot.

The state on Tuesday applied for Bennett to be indicted for trial.

“The serving of indictment papers to Senator Bennett on a day his trial is scheduled to commence will immediately result in him being remanded in custody,” the MDC said ahead of the ruling. Source AFP