Shared power brings shared accountability

South African president Motlanthe has shown SADC’s true colours in his statement that the fate of Roy Bennett and the other abductees is in the hands of the new all inclusive government. This statement follows information we have received that at yesterday’s JOMIC meeting Chinamasa laid his cards on the table: blanket amnesty for all political crimes since 1980 in return for the release of the abductees.

Now is the true litmus test for the newly sworn in Prime Minister. The new power-sharing government needs to realise that with shared power comes shared responsibility and shared public accountability.

Bennett has now been moved to Mutare prison and has apparently declared that his party must not give in to this heinous form of horse-trading.  I received the following sms’s from someone who got them from someone else who was there. They chronicle the court proceedings. (For background on Peter Hitschmann, go to the BBC.)

3:00 – Defence lawyer Trust Maanza is saying that the very charges brought against Roy are the ones brought against Peter Hitschmann and were thrown out of court then!

3:15 – Only evidence State has is an email supposedly from Hitschmann to Roy. Defence says it can be written by anyone and therefore is inadmissable.

3:25 – Onto the second charge of contravening the immigration act…. Defence is saying that Roy presented himself to the immigration officer and has a copy of the manifesto as well as the immigration officers list to prove it.

3:36 – The state is saying that from the beginning Hitschmann implicated Roy as supplying the funds. Defence is reiterating that the evidence has already been discredited in the Hitschmann trial as the confession was extracted from Hitschmann by torture.

3:45 – The state is back onto the email and clutching at straws. Defence says ‘bring Hitschmann to the court to testify’. The prosecutor says it is not necessary and not proper but will call him at the appropriate  time

4:03 – Defence is saying Hitschmann did not implicate Roy as he (the Defence) was there and the Prosecutor was not! But bring Hitschmann now!  State is fumbling with their papers!

4:47 – The magistrate says no one is allowed to access Hitschmann.  He will rule at 12 tomorrow whether Bennett is allowed bail. Defence has asked that Bennett be kept at the police station and not the prison. Magistrate says Prison. Court dismissed.

So Roy Bennett won”t be sworn in tomorrow with the rest of the Deputy Ministers. It is very clear that the hawks in Zanu PF are determined to do what they can to de-rail the new government and are also showing their true fears with their offer for the release of these innocent victims.  There is also strong rumour that these same hawks are angry at the information that Mugabe has established an exit package for himself, with no concern for the rest of those in the party that have blood on their hands.

We await the MDC statement and what lies ahead in Zimbabwe’s courts tomorrow with the next episode in Bennett’s case and the appearance of seven abductees who should have been in court on Monday.

This entry was posted by Still Here on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 8:39 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.