HARARE – To swear MDC treasurer-general Roy Bennett into Zimbabwe’s unity government would be akin to having a former NAZI infantryman serving as a deputy Minister of Justice in Israel today, says Zimbabwean legislator Professor Jonathan Moyo. Moyo, once the Minister of Information and Publicity in President Mugabe’s government, became Zimbabwe’s only independent Member of Parliament until he was recently allowed to re-join Zanu-PF, the party that booted him out in 2005. Moyo said the MDC’s choice of Bennett as deputy Minister of Agriculture was “deeply provocative and treacherous”.
“If by dint of fortune the Prime Minister manages to bring pressure to bear and Bennett is sworn-in, King (heroes) Mzilikazi, Lobengula along with Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi and other fallen heroes of the Chimurenga (Liberation Struggle) would turn in their graves and inspire surviving comrades of the revolution and their offspring to set this whole country on fire,” Moyo warned in an article carried in a Zimbabwean weekly newspaper, The Financial Gazette.
“That is not a threat but a generational promise,” Moyo said in the doublespread article. He adds. “Given that reclaiming our priceless land from British colonialists who brutally and illegally stole it from our ancestors was the single most important driver of our national liberation struggle, the MDC-T’s treacherous nomination of Bennett who served in the Rhodesian Infantry for the post of deputy Minister of Agriculture is morally quivalent, and therefore as insulting as, having a former NAZI infantryman serving as a deputy Minister of Justice in Israel today.”
“If Israel would not accept that under any circumstances, including that of fake reconciliation, why should Zimbabwe accept the monstrosity? “Prime Minister Tsvangirai must understand a very simple but fundamental point. It is okay for Bennett to be a member of the MDC-T as an expression of his freedom of association. It is also okay for the MDC-T to make him its treasurer-general with a mandate for raising money from former Rhodesians and white racists across the world. But what is okay ends there.” Moyo said.
“It is not okay for the very same Bennett who fought and massacred our liberation forces to be a minister in the Government of Zimbabwe 29 years after our hard-worn independence. That is just not acceptable.” Bennett has been indicted for trial in the High Court in Harare. In response to a motion filed by his attorney, Bennett was released on October 16 pending the beginning of his trial, which was initially scheduled to begin on October 19 but has now been postponed to November 9.
 Bennett, a coffee farmer whose business was seized during the government backed land invasions, was nominated by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai back in February for appointment as deputy Minister of Agriculture. He has not been sworn-in since then. His appointment has been held up due to the criminal charges pending against him.
The MDC insists the charges are trumped-up. As a result of Bennett’s arrest and a catalogue of other outstanding issues, the MDC has suspended its participation in Cabinet meetings. Moyo said, “Bennett’s permanent unsuitability to be a member of Zimbabwe’s government in any capacity has nothing to do with his present legal circumstances in which he has been lawfully indicted by a court of law to stand trial in the High Court of Zimbabwe after he was lawfully charged with very serious offences for which he has been on bail since February.” Bennett has been on bail since March.
“This man has been waiting for his day in a court of law and he must have it,” Moyo said. He said Bennet t ’ s charges pre-dated the March 29, 2008 harmonised elections. He described as nonsensical concerns that Bennett had been subjected to selective prosecution, saying the charges against him were lawful. He said there was evidence which will be led against Bennett “which is unique to him and his alleged dastardly actions which cannot be compared to anyone else.”
“Nobody is above the law, and that particularly goes for former Rhodesians who brutally massacred our freedom fighters and the innocent peasants who supported them or Zimbabwean children who were in refugee camps in Mozambique and Zambia. The culprits must be brought to book and they will never ever be allowed to now masquerade as latter day champions of human rights. Never.” Financial Gazette