Roy Bennett
Deliberately delaying the release of all political prisoners violates the GPA
Sokwanele Article: February 23rd, 2009Focussing on clause 18.5 (j)
Sokwanele's ZIG Watch project has been documenting violations of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed between Zimbabwe's three main political parties. Through this article, Sokwanele aims to familiarise our readership with sub-clause 18.5(j), one of ten sub-clauses falling under Article XVIII of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed on September 15th 2008. Article XVIII of the GPA sets out to ensure the security of all Zimbabweans and to prevent future political violence.
Article XVIII, clause 18.5 (j) that while having due regard to the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the principles of the rule of law, the prosecuting authorities will expedite the determination as to whether or not there is sufficient evidence to warrant the prosecution or keeping on remand of all persons accused of politically related offences arising out of or connected with the March and June 2008 elections.
Accountability and responsibility
Clause 18.5(j) specifically targets Zimbabwe's prosecuting authorities. Under the GPA, the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs has been allocated to Zanu PF, so the political party chiefly accountable for breaches in Clause 18.5(j) is Zanu PF. The person directly answerable to the people of Zimbabwe and to SADC for any breaches of this clause is Patrick Chinamasa, the appointed Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs.
Patrick Chinamasa was also one of the principle members of Zanu PF's negotiating team in the drafting of the GPA, so he will be well-versed in both the letter and the spirit of the agreement. Very significantly, Chinamasa is also a Zanu PF representative on the Joint-Monitoring Implementation Committee (JOMIC) (Article XXII in the GPA). Under the terms agreed, members of JOMIC will monitor compliance with, and progress on, all the items agreed on within the GPA, including clause 18.5(j).
In short: Patrick Chinamasa helped draft the agreement that includes this clause; he is directly in charge of the Ministry that has the power to ensure it is complied with; and he is one of the people responsible for ensuring that all parties stick to the agreement on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe.
Roy Bennett released
Sokwanele Article: June 28th, 2005To the delight of the tens of thousands of Zimbabweans and huge numbers of supporters around the world who have been waiting for this day, Roy Bennett was today released from prison in Harare. Zimbabwe’s most famous prisoner of conscience and icon of the struggle for freedom and democracy, walked free from the regime’s notorious Chikurubi high security prison, which in recent years has come to represent the brutal face of Mugabe’s fascist tyranny.
There were emotional scenes when Bennett was reunited with his wife, Heather, outside the Chikurubi Prison. The reunion was a low key event deliberately because no one had known for sure that the regime would comply with even the most rudimentary standards of justice by observing the convention of remitting one third of the sentence for good behaviour. When they saw him, family and friends immediately commented on how thin the once burly Bennett now was – 27 kgs (4.25 Stone) lighter than when he was committed to one of Mugabe’s hell-hole prisons.
Supreme Court Challenge
Sokwanele Article: May 25th, 2005On May 26 two of South Africa's foremost constitutional lawyers will appear in Zimbabwe's Supreme Court to mount the most serious legal challenge yet to the continued incarceration of the country's celebrated prisoner of conscience, Roy Bennett. Due to appear before Zimbabwe's highest court in Harare on Bennett's behalf are Advocates Chaskalson SC and Gauntlett SC.
Roy Bennett was elected Member of Parliament for Chimanimani constituency in the 2000 Parliamentary elections. He is a leading member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party who enjoys a huge popularity among his rural, almost entirely black, constituents. Fluent in the vernacular he was, until his forcible ejection from his farm in the eastern highlands, a successful coffee farmer, and respected as a good employer who had the interests of his employees very much at heart. Prior to the year 2000 he had been a staunch supporter of ZANU PF but, in response to the increasing levels of corruption and nepotism in the ruling party, he threw his weight behind the fledging opposition movement. Despite receiving death threats from senior ZANU PF politicians, a police commander and the local CIO boss, Bennett stood for the MDC and won by a huge margin.
