By Fortune Tazvida
Zanu PF is working in over-drive mode to try and secure the conviction of MDC Treasurer General Roy Bennett on trumped up terror charges.
The main stumbling block is the lack of any credible evidence but this has not stopped the regime from conniving to set this up.
Attorney General Johannes Tomana and Defence Minister Emerson Mnangagwa have been tasked with manufacturing the evidence. Already numerous trips have been made to Mozambique to convince certain unnamed ‘witnesses’ to testify.
Mugabe has already told his top aides there is no way he will swear in a dispossessed white commercial farmer into government and have him serve as Deputy Agriculture Minister especially given his violent land reform exercise.
Several months ago Mugabe lost his cool telling Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, Tsvangirai had to find someone else for the ministerial post who was not Roy Bennett. ‘What is so special about Bennett?’ he fumed.
Attorney General Tomana, a former soldier, has been tasked to personally ensure Bennett is either convicted or the state manages to drag the case for long enough to outlive the unity government.
Nehanda Radio is also reliably informed all the judges who are likely to hear the case have already been given instructions on how to proceed in dealing with the matter especially given the intense international media coverage.
Justice Chinembiri Bhunu who is currently presiding over the case has already been asked by the defence to recuse himself following several judgment u-turns that betrayed the fact he was getting orders from above.
Defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said justice Bhunu should step aside because of comments he made in 2006 that appeared to show he already believed the prosecution claims.
“We have asked the judge to recuse himself and hand over the matter to another judge,” Mtetwa told reporters after meeting with Bhunu in chambers.
“In May 2006, he said this was a very serious case, and we feel this (remark) also affects Roy. Come Monday, he will decide whether to recuse himself or not,” she said.
During a recent interview on Cable News Network (CNN) Mugabe claimed Bennett could not be sworn in because he is facing serious charges. MDC Secretary General and current Finance Minister Tendai Biti however still has treason charges hanging on his head but was sworn in all the same.
