Court helps ensure Bennett’s swearing-in delayed ‘indefinitely’

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Written by swradio africa

Thursday, 29 July 2010 07:21

The Supreme Court has ensured that MDC Treasurer General Roy Bennett (Pictured) will not be sworn in to his post as Deputy Agriculture Minister any time soon, after postponing his acquittal case ‘indefinitely’ High Court Judge Chinembiri Bhunu in May acquitted Bennett on charges of possessing weapons of war and plotting to assassinate Robert Mugabe, saying
the State had failed to establish a ‘prima facie’ case against the accused.

The State later filed an appeal in the Supreme Court requesting that the acquittal be set aside.
That acquittal application was heard on Wednesday. But according to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku postponed his decision ‘indefinitely’ citing large amounts of ‘bulky’ court paperwork to sort through.

Chidyausiku “has indicated that because the record is very bulky it will take him long to come to a decision,” Bennett’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa told reporters after a three-hour, closed-door hearing.
“The matter has been postponed indefinitely,” she added.

The postponement will now delay Bennett’s swearing-in as a government
Minister for an indefinite time, which is helpful for Mugabe who has
insisted he will not swear him in until he is completely cleared of all
charges. The issue has been one of many outstanding issues in the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) that ZANU PF still refuses to honour. As a result,
the unity government has remained at a complete stalemate and the
outstanding Bennett issue will serve to further strain tensions in the shaky
coalition.

The case against Bennett stems from allegations of a plot to oust Mugabe in
2006. The state says that Bennett gave money to gun merchant Peter Michael
Hitschmann to buy weapons to be used to assassinate Mugabe. Prosecutors say
that Hitschmann implicated Bennett when he was arrested in 2006 after being
found in possession of firearms, claims the gun-dealer has denied.
Hitschmann said he was tortured into making confessions implicating the MDC
politician during interrogation at a military barracks near Mutare.

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