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(TALKZIMBABWE) The 'Bennett Affair' and the future of the MDC-T

The 'Bennett Affair' and the future of the MDC-T
Philip Murombedzi
Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:53:00 +0000

THE Movement for Democratic Change party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has decided to "disengage" from the inclusive Government. This is very unfortunate. It shows a lack of foresight and direction in that party which purports to represent the wishes of the Zimbabwean people. Critics say it is the "Bennett Affair" which made the MDC-T take this crucial stance.

The incarceration of Roy Bennett has threatened the welfare of millions of Zimbabweans; despite the fact that many other MDC-T members and MPs have been arrested, charged and jailed over the past year on various offences ranging from rape to kidnapping.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who doubles as the Secretary General of the MDC-T, spent months in Chikurubi prison. There was no outcry from the party, nor a boycott of talks. PM Tsvangirai's aide, Ghandhi Mudzingwa and other MDC-T members are still in lockdown; but they seem less important figures that Roy Bennett.

The MDC-T party holds very crucial portfolios in the inclusive Government, which if compromised could affect the welfare of Zimbabwean people.

President Robert Mugabe should now hasten to make alternative acting ministerial appointments until such a time when the MDC-T party decides to "re-engage", especially in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.

Surely the party does not expect Zimbabwe to go without these two crucial ministries, even for a day. The appointments of Attorney General Johannes Tomana and Reserve Bank Governor, made before the formation of the inclusive Government, were made at a time when the MDC-T was dithering on entering into government with Zanu PF. The country could not have gone without these crucial posts.

There are crucial executive decisions that need to be made and meetings to be attended to by the leadership in these crucial ministries.

Zimbabwean people cannot be held at ransom by a political party that decides to sulk over "outstanding issues" that a few weeks ago PM Tsvangirai called "not insurmountable".

MDC-T represents a significant chunk of the Zimbabwean electorate, but not all Zimbabweans. It should, therefore, not make decisions on behalf of all groups in the country that depend on these crucial ministries

Just a week ago, PM Tsvangirai told reproters in the northern Spanish city of Valladolid where he was due to receive a prize for lifetime achievement, that he had a good working relationship with President Mugabe and called for relations between the European Union and Zimbabwe to be normalised.

He also appealed to the EU to start pouring development aid into the country as opposed to humanitarian aid. One wonders what could have changed in a matter of a week.

On his return to Zimbabwe on Friday, PM Tsvangirai said people could live in peace in Zimbabwe since the formation of the inclusive Government.

He said that while there were some "toxic issues" for the government, the MDC-T party "will make progress working with the veteran president and eventually be elected in its own right" and that "now people can live in peace" in Zimbabwe.

"Progress is gradual and it cannot be an event. You have to work it on a daily basis and hopefully we can do that within the shortest possible time," he said.

PM Tsvangirai also added, "There has been substantive progress, it's just that you have got one or two incidents and then it spoils the thing."

It is interesting that these "one or two incidents" did not lead the PM and his team to disengage from the inclusive Government. The "one incident" that was too hot to handle for the MDC-T was Bennett's indictment and incarceration: the "Bennett Affair".

Bennett has since been released on bail pending his trial which resumes on Monday.

The PM and his party and government deputy Thokozani Khupe on Thursday, a day before the MDCdecided to boycott government, appeared alongside President Mugabe at a women's summit in the country and everything looked in place.

The "Bennett Affair" seems like the one single issue that the MDC-T will not compromise on: no more, no less.

What wonders what it is about Bennett that makes the MDC-T party leadership cringe.

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Philip Murombedzi is the editor of the Zimbabwe Guardian. He can be contacted via: philipmurombedzi@yahoo.com

Labels: MDC, ROY BENNETT

posted by MrK @ 5:18 PM