Bennett attacks US hypocrisy on Nkomo

By Lance Guma [twitter-follow username=”lanceguma” scheme=”dark”]

Exiled MDC-T Treasurer General Roy Bennett has criticised the US Embassy in Harare for issuing a statement that said the late Vice President John Nkomo “was a patriot who dedicated his life to Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and prosperity.”

But Bennett arrested, detained, assaulted and tortured several times by Mugabe’s regime before fleeing into exile was having none of the niceties.

“Every time a prominent figure in Zanu PF dies it becomes the occasion for all sorts of nonsense and stupidity. We recall the ridiculous things that were said when (General Vitalis) Zvinavashe died. We are now seeing the same with John Nkomo’s death,” he said.

The outspoken Bennett said he was no sure what the American agenda was but their statement was ‘total rubbish’. Bennett said Nkomo “sat at the heart of the beast that has destroyed Zimbabwe’s economy. He has held the hand of the dictator that has obliterated our hopes and freedoms.”

Nkomo he said “must now be remembered by the choices he made. He chose to oppose the people, rather than serve them. He walked around in tailor-made suits while Zimbabweans walked in rags.

“He received private medical treatment in South Africa, while Zimbabweans in South Africa were dying in the townships. And he has many questions to answer even prior to his joining Zanu PF.”

Bennett also queried why Nkomo “was one of the last Zapu people to be dismissed from government in the 1980s, long after Joshua Nkomo and others had been sacked?

“Why was he, of all people, chosen to accompany Mugabe to an international conference in early 1983 while his fellow party members were being slaughtered in the Gukurahundi?”

“Go and ask our Zapu friends if you think I am making this up. My advice to the Americans and others who appear to be bending over backward to show their neutrality in 2013 is this: better to shut-up and say nothing than to insult the millions of Zimbabweans who have been murdered and impoverished by Zanu PF,” Bennett added.

At the inception of the unity government in 2009, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai appointed Bennett to serve as the Deputy Minister of Agriculture. Mugabe refused to swear him in claiming he faced treason charges. But even after Bennett was cleared of those charges Mugabe still refused to swear him in. [twitter-follow username=”nehandaradio” scheme=”dark”]