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Bennett evidence 'all fiction'

JASON MOYO - Nov 13 2009 06:00

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With days to go before the expiry of the Southern African Development Community's 15-day deadline for Zimbabwe's coalition partners to end their feuding, a new battlefront opened this week in the country's courts and Parliament.

The terrorism trial of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) treasurer Roy Bennett has thrown up new evidence of the security forces' reliance on torture and enabled the opposition to present the attorney general, Johannes Tomana, as biased and unfit for office.

In Parliament the MDC introduced Bills that would bring sweeping reforms to the central bank and the police force, setting the stage for another bitter battle with Zanu-PF.

In the Bennett trial, key state witness Peter Hitschmann, a convicted arms dealer, claimed in an affidavit that he was tortured into giving evidence implicating Bennett in a conspiracy to acquire arms to attack President Robert Mugabe.

"As a result of the torture referred to above, and involuntarily, I made a number of … statements, which were all false and cannot be admissible in court," Hitschmann said.

"In these statements I inter alia admitted to the conspiracy with which I was being charged and suggested that Mr Roy Bennett was also involved in the conspiracy.

"This was pure fiction and bore no relationship at all to any reality."

Beatrice Mtetwa, the prominent rights lawyer leading Bennett's legal team, has used the trial to portray Tomana as biased and untrustworthy, echoing the MDC's view. Mtetwa asked the court to condemn Tomana for using "fake" evidence in the trial.

"An AG [attorney general] is an AG for all of us. He is an AG for Roy Bennett and for anybody who is in Zimbabwe. The administration of justice would be put into disrepute if the evidence of Mr Hitschmann is allowed to stand," Mtetwa told the court.

CONTINUES BELOW

In Parliament debate began on two Bills that would weaken Mugabe's control of the central bank and the police. He has vowed never to sack Gideon Gono, the Reserve Bank governor, or Tomana. Aware that they are unlikely to shift Mugabe on this matter, at least not within the SADC's 15-day deadline for the resolution of outstanding disputes, the MDC has turned to legislation.

Introducing the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Bill, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said reform was a key demand of donors. Zimbabwe needed donors to fund the 2010 budget, which he will present this month.

"We have failed to attract a single cent for budget support," he said. "The first thing that they [donors] ask is: 'Are you going to put our money through the central bank?' and I have no answer to that."

The Bill will reduce the bank chief's powers by appointing an independent board, restricting the bank to the "core business" of managing interest rates and the currency and regulating financial services.

This week the MDC also tabled an amendment to the Public Order and Security Act, used by Mugabe for years to harass opponents and crush dissent.

The amendment would remove the power of the police to ban gatherings, giving it to magistrates, and scrap the requirement that citizens carry identity cards.

This week the president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Lovemore Matombo, and four members of his staff were arrested under the Public Order and Security Act.

Old Mutual digs in over stake in Mugabe mouthpiece
Old Mutual will not sell its stake in Zimbabwe Newspapers, despite a new campaign to force disinvestment, the media group insisted this week.

Old Mutual holds 22% of Zimpapers, in which the Zimbabwe government has a 51% stake through the Mass Media Trust and which President Robert Mugabe uses as his party's mouthpiece.

A Cape Town-based lobby group formed by expatriate Zimbabweans, Passop (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty), has launched a campaign to force Old Mutual to withdraw its investment. In a statement this week, Passop said that as the second-largest shareholder in Zimbabwe Newspapers, the company is "guilty of directly supporting the Mugabe regime".

"While the international community, appalled by the actions of the Zanu-PF leadership, imposes sanctions on Zimbabwe, your company's investment is essentially arming Mugabe's propaganda machine -- the equivalent of loading bullets in the guns that kill oppositional voices," it said.

It warned that if the company maintained its investment, it would embark on protests and engage policyholders.

In a written response to the Mail & Guardian this week, Old Mutual said that its investment dated back to the pre-independence era and that the newspapers in question -- which include The Herald and The Chronicle -- "are just one asset in the Zimpapers group out of a number of assets, which represents our exposure to print, media and publishing.

"This investment is held on behalf of our policyholders and therefore this is a portfolio investment," it said. "We do not influence or involve ourselves in their editorial policy."

The company said it would continue to hold the investment "for as long as it continues to make investment sense for our policyholders".

The 22% stake Old Mutual holds in Zimpapers is valued at $1,2-million (almost R9-million).

The insurance giant indicated in 2005 it was prepared to sell its stake after the investment was raised by board members of its R37-billion takeover target, Swedish savings group Skandia. The Skandia board members charged that Old Mutual's interest made the insurer and financial services group "an unsuitable partner".

Having operated in Zimbabwe for more than a century, Old Mutual is a dominant force in the Zimbabwean economy. Apart from running the country's largest life insurance business -- it is said to have more than 400000 policyholders and pension fund members -- it is the largest institutional investor on the Zimbabwe stock exchange, where it holds a broad portfolio of investments ranging from construction to retail and financial services. The company is also the largest owner of commercial property in the country.

Despite continuing pressure on foreign companies from the anti-Mugabe lobby to end cooperation with the Zimbabwe government, most foreign investors are staying put.

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Roy Bennett

Comments

Gono has a CD with mugabe's and all his cronies overseas banking details and the names they used to buy properties overseas with all our stolen money. Yhat's why mugabe can't fire him or arrange the usual motor accident to get rid of this embarrassing piece of garbage. Don't know what the AG has going for him but that's another piece of garbage that must go.

Peter Macklyn on November 13, 2009, 12:28 pm

I am pessimistic because given the fact that people have been tortured in Zimbabwe for political beliefs they subscribed to - it would/will not persuade the mind of the oppresive justice system of Zimbabwe because the courts themselves have subdued to the idea that violence exists for a neccesary reason.

Just like in Apartheid era SAfrica - the courts - with their learned judges still failed to interpret legislation in good faith. What law said - as long as it has been said - no matter how bad it is - was still welcomed as legitimate.

At this present age - it is surprising that there are nations who value torture as a means of getting evidence! Shameless - I think its high time Zimbabweans become into solidarity with other nations (i mean the opposition) - to fight (no jaw to jaw) but to begin an armed struggle - some things cant even change. 10 years is a justifiable time for people to be patient. Order comes as a result of chaos!

Ikene Ikene on November 13, 2009, 2:07 pm

@ ikene - Zimbos are too smart! This is what Tvsangirai said recently,

'Tsvangirai said he was setting an example by working with President Robert Mugabe in a tricky coalition government that “when you contest each other, it doesn’t mean you have become enemies”.

In Nyamande’s case, he said the MP was a cousin of Chinamasa’s – dynamics which are not always understood by unemployed youths who engage in violent activities on behalf of politicians.

“Their mothers are sisters, they live a stone-throw away from each other,” Tsvangirai said. “You can differ in whatever you do as political enemies, but in everything else you must be united as Zimbabweans.”

Wise wise words - no war but mature political debate!

dread dread6 on November 14, 2009, 6:56 pm

Ikene, what justice is the war in DRC achieving, let alone the civil war that happened in Mozambique? Those two examples will prove to you that war is not always the answer.

Mikhael Gorbachev on November 16, 2009, 10:41 am

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Bennett evidence 'all fiction'

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