Bennett was a fugitive-Mohadi
By Delta Ndou
MDC-T national treasurer and Deputy Minister of Agriculture-designate, Mr Roy Bennett, who was arrested at Charles Prince Airport in Harare last Friday as he was preparing to flee the country, was a fugitive, the co-Minister of Home Affairs, Cde Kembo Mohadi said, yesterday.
Bennett fled the country in March 2006 when he was wanted by police in connection with the discovery of an arms cache at Peter Hitschmann’s house in Mutare.
Hitschmann was immediately arrested, charged and later convicted.
Recovered on the property were an AK47 rifle, four FN rifles, seven Uzis, 19 pistols and revolvers, 11 shotguns and an assortment of ammunition — all concealed.
In an interview, Cde Kembo Mohadi said Bennett was a “fugitive’’ who escaped after being granted bail in a bid to avoid justice while his alleged partner in crime, Peter Hitschmann has since been convicted.
“There was a warrant of arrest issued against Bennett by the courts. We are merely upholding the law and putting the court order into effect . . . that is our constitutional mandate. No one is above the law and he (Bennett) sought asylum knowing full well that he was being charged with a crime,’’ Cde Mohadi said.
Bennett — who was released from prison in 2005 after serving a year’s jail term imposed by Parliament for assaulting the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Cde Patrick Chinamasa, in the legislative chamber in 2004 — allegedly skipped the country via Mozambique en route to South Africa where he sought refuge.
He was subsequently granted political asylum in South Africa.
Investigations into the arms cache led to the arrest of a number of top MDC-T officials and two ex-policemen and the recovery of numerous police and army uniforms and rounds of ammunition.
Cde Mohadi confirmed that Bennett had been apprehended at Charles Prince Airport where he was preparing to leave the country.
According to Mr Ian Makone, Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, Bennett intended to spend a few days with his family in South Africa before taking up his job as deputy minister.
This was his first time to return to the country since he fled arrest.
“We had been looking for him for one and a half weeks prior to catching him at the airport where he was planning to leave the country. So we apprehended him immediately because his case is pending,’’ explained Cde Mohadi.
Wednesday
MPC's Response to a false accusation on newzim.com Forum
MPC STATEMENT
MPC wishes to protest and condemn in the strongest terms a posting made by a New Zimbabwe forumite, Ratidzoo, on the online newspaper’s forum titled: “The face of a terrorist – MPC President!!!” in reference to MPC President, Mr Ndaba Mkwananzi.
We condemn the posting as malicious character assassination, hurtful and harmful of our President’s reputation. The attack is also unfounded and without justification whatsoever. Mr Mkwananzi is well-known in Zimbabwe and elsewhere. There are many who will feel hurt and offended alongside him as a result of this baseless attack. This attack is serious and threatening and MPC receives it with the seriousness it deserves.
MPC wishes to put it on record that no one has killed in the name of our President or MPC nor will anyone in the future. The speaking record is different and well-known. We re-state it here, just in case others have a short memory.Matebeleland and the Midlands bled in the name of a supposed superior tribe. That genocide remains unacknowledged and unaddressed. The MDC, too, has had casualties to the system. We also don’t fail to put it on record that the MDC has not been entirely blameless in this regard to some bad things that have happened in its name since 2000. We also state that to this day, the system uses starvation, water and other insidious means as political weapons against uMthwakazi. When people such as Ratidzoo are conveniently blind to such speaking facts or twist the truth, it is the reason MPC has risen as a political movement.
Our cause, which is in the public domain, including all the faces of MPC officials and that of our President, can never, even remotely, be associated with activities of terrorists or a terrorist organization. In his launch message for our new website, Mr Mkwananzi, spoke of the assassination of truth in Zimbabwe and the need to recover it as a political cause for any new political dispensation. This latest and unfounded attack on our President underlines the urgency for the MPC agenda to succeed, and succeed soon.There are also serious political and personal ramifications for this malicious attack which in our peculiar experience as Mthwakazi under Zimbabwe rule, we can never be blind to. For the moment we leave aside the legal implications of this attack.It is now well-known that labelling (de-humanization and de-personalization), incitement and other insidious acts, are the precursor to genocide and other serious human rights violations such as crimes against humanity, broadly defined.
In Mthwakazi’s own experience, which forumite Ratidzo knows full well about, the precursor to Gukurahundi was the labelling of uMthwakazi as ‘dissidents, ‘cockroaches’, ‘chuff’ (where the name ‘Gukurahundi was coined from), ‘snakes’ (cobra in the house) etc. Overnight, Joshua Nkomo became known, insultingly, as ‘Dumbuzenene’. Across the world where genocide has happened labelling has been an essential ingredient of that crime. We therefore wish to make it clear from the onset that if this is the beginning of an orchestrated campaign to place harm in our President’s way, or any of its officials or uMthwakazi society at large, MPC will fight that by all means it has at its disposal. We are also aware that for the most part the system will not act directly but will do so through surrogates or proxies they manipulate from the shadows and afford anonymity in various ways. Further, MPC will not leave threats, veiled as this one was or otherwise, unchallenged. We will always draw the line between free, robust debate and threats and incitement. MPC challenges all our political adversaries to come out of anonymity, as we have done, and engage us in open political combat. Here, belong the skills of debate and persuasion that MPC believes in.
Our political position is simple and publicly stated: the issue of the constitutional and political position of Mthwakazi under Zimbabwe will no longer be swept under carpet, as will the issue of the Gukurahundi genocide. These are the emerging and growing topics of our time.Finally, to their credit, we note that the publishers of New Zimbabwe, on realizing the gross nature of the original posting took immediate steps to change and tone down the title of the posting, from “Face of a terrorist” to “The face of the MPC President!!!” We commend them for their quick action. We can only hope that the publishers of New Zimbabwe, a platform we also wish to use in the future to articulate MPC’s position, will be more vigilant to ensure that a similar thing will not happen to anyone in the future and that its online publication will continue to conform to the applicable laws and good practices operative in their industry. We of course leave it to our President, Mr Mkwananzi, to consider all the options available to him arising from this unprovoked and malicious attack on him.
Thank you.
K. Dube
MPC Director of Communications
MPC wishes to protest and condemn in the strongest terms a posting made by a New Zimbabwe forumite, Ratidzoo, on the online newspaper’s forum titled: “The face of a terrorist – MPC President!!!” in reference to MPC President, Mr Ndaba Mkwananzi.
We condemn the posting as malicious character assassination, hurtful and harmful of our President’s reputation. The attack is also unfounded and without justification whatsoever. Mr Mkwananzi is well-known in Zimbabwe and elsewhere. There are many who will feel hurt and offended alongside him as a result of this baseless attack. This attack is serious and threatening and MPC receives it with the seriousness it deserves.
MPC wishes to put it on record that no one has killed in the name of our President or MPC nor will anyone in the future. The speaking record is different and well-known. We re-state it here, just in case others have a short memory.Matebeleland and the Midlands bled in the name of a supposed superior tribe. That genocide remains unacknowledged and unaddressed. The MDC, too, has had casualties to the system. We also don’t fail to put it on record that the MDC has not been entirely blameless in this regard to some bad things that have happened in its name since 2000. We also state that to this day, the system uses starvation, water and other insidious means as political weapons against uMthwakazi. When people such as Ratidzoo are conveniently blind to such speaking facts or twist the truth, it is the reason MPC has risen as a political movement.
Our cause, which is in the public domain, including all the faces of MPC officials and that of our President, can never, even remotely, be associated with activities of terrorists or a terrorist organization. In his launch message for our new website, Mr Mkwananzi, spoke of the assassination of truth in Zimbabwe and the need to recover it as a political cause for any new political dispensation. This latest and unfounded attack on our President underlines the urgency for the MPC agenda to succeed, and succeed soon.There are also serious political and personal ramifications for this malicious attack which in our peculiar experience as Mthwakazi under Zimbabwe rule, we can never be blind to. For the moment we leave aside the legal implications of this attack.It is now well-known that labelling (de-humanization and de-personalization), incitement and other insidious acts, are the precursor to genocide and other serious human rights violations such as crimes against humanity, broadly defined.
In Mthwakazi’s own experience, which forumite Ratidzo knows full well about, the precursor to Gukurahundi was the labelling of uMthwakazi as ‘dissidents, ‘cockroaches’, ‘chuff’ (where the name ‘Gukurahundi was coined from), ‘snakes’ (cobra in the house) etc. Overnight, Joshua Nkomo became known, insultingly, as ‘Dumbuzenene’. Across the world where genocide has happened labelling has been an essential ingredient of that crime. We therefore wish to make it clear from the onset that if this is the beginning of an orchestrated campaign to place harm in our President’s way, or any of its officials or uMthwakazi society at large, MPC will fight that by all means it has at its disposal. We are also aware that for the most part the system will not act directly but will do so through surrogates or proxies they manipulate from the shadows and afford anonymity in various ways. Further, MPC will not leave threats, veiled as this one was or otherwise, unchallenged. We will always draw the line between free, robust debate and threats and incitement. MPC challenges all our political adversaries to come out of anonymity, as we have done, and engage us in open political combat. Here, belong the skills of debate and persuasion that MPC believes in.
Our political position is simple and publicly stated: the issue of the constitutional and political position of Mthwakazi under Zimbabwe will no longer be swept under carpet, as will the issue of the Gukurahundi genocide. These are the emerging and growing topics of our time.Finally, to their credit, we note that the publishers of New Zimbabwe, on realizing the gross nature of the original posting took immediate steps to change and tone down the title of the posting, from “Face of a terrorist” to “The face of the MPC President!!!” We commend them for their quick action. We can only hope that the publishers of New Zimbabwe, a platform we also wish to use in the future to articulate MPC’s position, will be more vigilant to ensure that a similar thing will not happen to anyone in the future and that its online publication will continue to conform to the applicable laws and good practices operative in their industry. We of course leave it to our President, Mr Mkwananzi, to consider all the options available to him arising from this unprovoked and malicious attack on him.
Thank you.
K. Dube
MPC Director of Communications
Monday
MPC Speaks out on latest ZANU-MDC Marriage of 11th February
"We are grateful to a forumite at New Zimbabwe warning MPC and Zapu to be wary of the merger between MDC and Zanu-PF."MPC wishes to make it clear that it saw and warned of this danger as early as September 2008 when the so-called agreement between Zanu-PF and MDC was announced. Please re-visit the attached Statement MPC released at the time of the so-called agreement in September 2008.Please pay particular attention to paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 13.
Thank you.
K Dube
MPC Director of Communications
M P CMthwakazi People’s Convention
STATEMENT ON THE POWER-SHARING AGREEMENT BETWEEN ZANU-PF AND MDC MADE IN HARARE ON THE 11th SEPTEMBER 2008
1. MPC learns and receives with regret the power-sharing agreement made between Zanu-PF and MDC on the 11th September 2008, which is to be officially signed on Monday, 15th September 2008. But this is hardly surprising. Once again we see the people of present-day Zimbabwe betrayed on the altar of political convenience, opportunism and self-serving political interests. We ask; what have all those who died in the just-ended election period, and before, die for?
2. We learn with further regret that the agreement is about power-sharing not good governance or the political future of present-day Zimbabwe. MPC has long said that both Zanu-PF and the MDC are fixated with power and not governance or the political future of present-day Zimbabwe. This agreement puts paid to any doubts whatsoever about that.
3. This agreement is also a political fraud designed to pull a rug over the world’s face and conceal the real motives behind the agreement. The agreement fools no one. It is not difficult for the world to know that this agreement is about enabling Zanu-PF and Mr Mugabe to access international finance support and dig themselves out of the present economic mire, while at the same time enabling Mr Tsvangirai to access power, with which he is so intoxicated, and to secure a State Residence.
4. MPC wants to point out that this is not a political agreement of the people of present-day Zimbabwe. It is, as it says, a power-sharing agreement between Zanu-PF and the MDC. It is once again a cynical move to privatise a political process that should be owned by the people.
5. MPC will not attempt to apportion blame for the violence that has characterised Zimbabwean politics since the advent and entry into the political arena of the MDC. What we know and is now public knowledge is that both Zanu-PF and the MDC-T faction have been involved in inter and intra-party violence that has killed and maimed innocent people. The death of one person for political reasons is one death too many. We thought the lessons of Gukurahundi had been learnt. Clearly they have not. Clearly, both Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai are not fit and proper persons for high office, whether it be as President or Prime Minister. They are dangerous people.
6. MPC condemns this agreement as cynical, mischievous and destined to achieve nothing politically. In a short while, Zanu-PF and the MDC must face each other in another round of elections. The political implications are too grave to contemplate. The implications are even worse if the two parties are on the same side, against others.
7. MPC also condemns Zanu-PF and MDC’s preoccupation with a so-called Government of National Unity (GNU), something both parties have achieved through violence. We also condemn their rejection, for obvious political reason, of a Transitional Government (TG).
8. MPC has long called for the establishment of an all-inclusive political process, recently supported by civic groups in Zimbabwe, to discuss, openly, the political problems of present-day Zimbabwe. We have called for the Convention on a Democratic Alternative for present-day Zimbabwe (Codaz). We re-affirm our call for Codaz. Out of Codaz MPC calls for a new political and constitutional order which must be captured in a New Constitution. MPC stands by its view that a New Constitution cannot usher in a new political and constitutional order. Rather, a new political and constitutional order must give birth to a new constitution.
9. This so-called agreement reverses this basic tenet of democratic construction. We therefore regret that the mistakes of Lancaster are being repeated in 2008, this time with the help of our own brothers and sisters in the continent who should know better. But this time uMthwakazi will not stand idly by. Through MPC, uMthwakazi has and is putting its case to the world. The time when political leaders and parties rode roughshod over the true aspirations of the people are gone.
10. As MPC, and talking on behalf of Mthwakazi, we reiterate the point we have made many times before, that MDC and Zanu-PF are two sides of the same coin. By this agreement both parties have put paid to any doubts about that. Both parties have today confirmed that they are parties built and designed to eliminate uMthwakazi as a people and political force. By embracing and going to bed with Zanu-PF the MDC has today confirmed that it is part of and shares in Zanu-PF’s so-called Grand Plan and the Zimbabwe Project, shadowy plans targeted at and designed to erase uMthwakazi politically and permanently. We know that despite public posturing by Mr Tsvangirai, this deal was easy to make because it completes the political dominance of the Shona over uMthwakazi. MPC long predicted such an agreement. Despite the political goodwill and generosity of the world in relation to Mr Tsvangirai, what draws him to Mr Mugabe and Mr Mugabe to him, and those of similar mind within those two parties, is ominous for uMthwakazi.
11. We restate it here. Zanu-PF and the MDC have never been divided politically. Rather, and clearly, they have merely disagreed on how to share power between themselves. Today, through this so-called agreement, they have put that question to rest. The truth is now out there for everybody to see.
12. MPC remains of the considered view that it is never too late to correct this political error. We call on both parties to reconsider the far-reaching implications of their so-called agreement. We also call on the mediators and the world to reaffirm and uphold the fundamental principle on which democracy is founded, namely; full, informed and free participation of the citizenry in political processes that affect them. The charade of elections ever held in Zimbabwe under Zanu-PF rule, and the sham presidential elections recently concluded, are matters of international knowledge. The world cannot and must not endorse and legitimise this political fraud.
13. Finally, Mthwakazi, this is not a time for dithering. The political implications of this so-called agreement are far worse and far tragic for Mthwakazi than the so-called Unity Accord could ever be. Let us all say, as Mthwakazians and as a people and proud nation, we will not be politically finished off while we draw breath. We owe it to our children and children’s children to say so.
MPC - Department of Communications
Thank you.
K Dube
MPC Director of Communications
M P CMthwakazi People’s Convention
STATEMENT ON THE POWER-SHARING AGREEMENT BETWEEN ZANU-PF AND MDC MADE IN HARARE ON THE 11th SEPTEMBER 2008
1. MPC learns and receives with regret the power-sharing agreement made between Zanu-PF and MDC on the 11th September 2008, which is to be officially signed on Monday, 15th September 2008. But this is hardly surprising. Once again we see the people of present-day Zimbabwe betrayed on the altar of political convenience, opportunism and self-serving political interests. We ask; what have all those who died in the just-ended election period, and before, die for?
2. We learn with further regret that the agreement is about power-sharing not good governance or the political future of present-day Zimbabwe. MPC has long said that both Zanu-PF and the MDC are fixated with power and not governance or the political future of present-day Zimbabwe. This agreement puts paid to any doubts whatsoever about that.
3. This agreement is also a political fraud designed to pull a rug over the world’s face and conceal the real motives behind the agreement. The agreement fools no one. It is not difficult for the world to know that this agreement is about enabling Zanu-PF and Mr Mugabe to access international finance support and dig themselves out of the present economic mire, while at the same time enabling Mr Tsvangirai to access power, with which he is so intoxicated, and to secure a State Residence.
4. MPC wants to point out that this is not a political agreement of the people of present-day Zimbabwe. It is, as it says, a power-sharing agreement between Zanu-PF and the MDC. It is once again a cynical move to privatise a political process that should be owned by the people.
5. MPC will not attempt to apportion blame for the violence that has characterised Zimbabwean politics since the advent and entry into the political arena of the MDC. What we know and is now public knowledge is that both Zanu-PF and the MDC-T faction have been involved in inter and intra-party violence that has killed and maimed innocent people. The death of one person for political reasons is one death too many. We thought the lessons of Gukurahundi had been learnt. Clearly they have not. Clearly, both Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai are not fit and proper persons for high office, whether it be as President or Prime Minister. They are dangerous people.
6. MPC condemns this agreement as cynical, mischievous and destined to achieve nothing politically. In a short while, Zanu-PF and the MDC must face each other in another round of elections. The political implications are too grave to contemplate. The implications are even worse if the two parties are on the same side, against others.
7. MPC also condemns Zanu-PF and MDC’s preoccupation with a so-called Government of National Unity (GNU), something both parties have achieved through violence. We also condemn their rejection, for obvious political reason, of a Transitional Government (TG).
8. MPC has long called for the establishment of an all-inclusive political process, recently supported by civic groups in Zimbabwe, to discuss, openly, the political problems of present-day Zimbabwe. We have called for the Convention on a Democratic Alternative for present-day Zimbabwe (Codaz). We re-affirm our call for Codaz. Out of Codaz MPC calls for a new political and constitutional order which must be captured in a New Constitution. MPC stands by its view that a New Constitution cannot usher in a new political and constitutional order. Rather, a new political and constitutional order must give birth to a new constitution.
9. This so-called agreement reverses this basic tenet of democratic construction. We therefore regret that the mistakes of Lancaster are being repeated in 2008, this time with the help of our own brothers and sisters in the continent who should know better. But this time uMthwakazi will not stand idly by. Through MPC, uMthwakazi has and is putting its case to the world. The time when political leaders and parties rode roughshod over the true aspirations of the people are gone.
10. As MPC, and talking on behalf of Mthwakazi, we reiterate the point we have made many times before, that MDC and Zanu-PF are two sides of the same coin. By this agreement both parties have put paid to any doubts about that. Both parties have today confirmed that they are parties built and designed to eliminate uMthwakazi as a people and political force. By embracing and going to bed with Zanu-PF the MDC has today confirmed that it is part of and shares in Zanu-PF’s so-called Grand Plan and the Zimbabwe Project, shadowy plans targeted at and designed to erase uMthwakazi politically and permanently. We know that despite public posturing by Mr Tsvangirai, this deal was easy to make because it completes the political dominance of the Shona over uMthwakazi. MPC long predicted such an agreement. Despite the political goodwill and generosity of the world in relation to Mr Tsvangirai, what draws him to Mr Mugabe and Mr Mugabe to him, and those of similar mind within those two parties, is ominous for uMthwakazi.
11. We restate it here. Zanu-PF and the MDC have never been divided politically. Rather, and clearly, they have merely disagreed on how to share power between themselves. Today, through this so-called agreement, they have put that question to rest. The truth is now out there for everybody to see.
12. MPC remains of the considered view that it is never too late to correct this political error. We call on both parties to reconsider the far-reaching implications of their so-called agreement. We also call on the mediators and the world to reaffirm and uphold the fundamental principle on which democracy is founded, namely; full, informed and free participation of the citizenry in political processes that affect them. The charade of elections ever held in Zimbabwe under Zanu-PF rule, and the sham presidential elections recently concluded, are matters of international knowledge. The world cannot and must not endorse and legitimise this political fraud.
13. Finally, Mthwakazi, this is not a time for dithering. The political implications of this so-called agreement are far worse and far tragic for Mthwakazi than the so-called Unity Accord could ever be. Let us all say, as Mthwakazians and as a people and proud nation, we will not be politically finished off while we draw breath. We owe it to our children and children’s children to say so.
MPC - Department of Communications
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