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(TALKZIMBABWE) Bennett: a victim of own recklessness

Bennett: a victim of own recklessness
By: Editor's Comment
Posted: Saturday, October 23, 2010 4:55 am

MDC-T treasurer general Roy Bennett should respect the rule of law and not flee from it if he is to be respected as a serious politician and leader.

There are many people who are charged with offences, get convicted or are acquitted. This is not new. Farai Maguwu, executive director of the Centre for Research and Development Trust, has just been set free after months of trial. He is no different from Bennett at law.

Perjury, also referred to as false statement or false testimony, is a serious offence in Zimbabwe. It is commited when a person intentionally lies under oath, when testifying in court, during administrative hearings, giving a deposition or in answers to interrogatories.

The State will potentially charge Bennett under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for making a false statement under oath, during his terrorism trial.

It attracts a maximum of 20 years in prison with hard labour.

The State alleges that when Bennett was asked to give a correspondence address during his terrorism trial, he gave the address of an industrial working area.

The address, Number 4 Burnley Road in Workington, leads to an industrial area in Harare.

The Deputy Sheriff — in his retainer of service — could not locate the Harare address. It led to the industrial area.

The court found out about the false address when it failed to serve Bennett papers in a civil lawsuit brought by High Court Judge Chinembiri Bhunu over a defamatory statement Bennett made to a British newspaper.


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In the United Kingdom, millionaire novelist and former deputy chair of the Conservative Party, Lord Archer was jailed for four years after being found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice.

Lord Archer, was ordered to pay £175,000 costs within 12 months, and told by the judge he would have to serve at least half of his sentence.

In the United States, for example, the general perjury statute under Federal law defines perjury as a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to five years.

In an interview with the Guardian (UK) newspaper's Chris Smith on Sunday, May 9 2010, Bennett said the terrorism case against him was politically motivated.

"It's very unsettling," Bennett told journalist Smith from his home in Harare. "To sit there and to listen to absolute fabricated lies where basically you've got the death sentence hanging over your head is not pleasant at all."

He continued: "To know that the people that are doing it will stop at absolutely nothing to achieve their ends and that there is a selective application of the rule of law, that the judiciary is totally compromised, that the very judge that's trying me is the owner of a farm that he's been given through political patronage, that all the appointees have been done through the ministry of justice on a political basis … basically I should expect no mercy and fear the worst."

Bennett made the remarks only a few hours before his case was discharged by the same judge whom he accussed of being compromised.

Bennett could have perjured himself by potentially not telling the truth when he gave his warned and cautioned statement in his terrorism docket.

The defamation lawsuit filed by Judge Bhunu, however, is a civil one. A civil wrong seeks to compensate Judge Bhunu by awarding damages.

If the court finds in favour of Judge Bhunu, Bennett will be expected to pay damages deemed as fair by the court.

Bennett should remember that when he says he is fighting for the rule of law in Zimbabwe, he should submit himself to that rule of law. By running away from Zimbabwe, he is setting a very dangerous precedent and cannot be a champion for the rule of law.

The State has a right to appeal against Bennett's discharge relating to the criminal case.

Bennett should tell the courts, not the newspapers, why the address he gave as his residential address leads to an industrial unit in Harare, as alleged by the State.

The civil suit, however, is justified because Bennett made those remarks and they are on the Guardian newspaper's website.

Bennett can go to the West to canvass support for the MDC-T, but that does not absolve him of the lawsuits that are before the courts.

Recently, he told another online news agency that "the police were instructed to arrest him and he thinks that this was designed by Zanu PF to scuttle his appointment as deputy Agriculture minister". He is adding to the litany of reckless statements that could bring more lawsuits against him.

His lawyers should advise him to be cautious in his interviews.

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Labels: COURTS, DEFAMATION, LIBEL, MDC, ROY BENNETT

posted by MrK @ 3:17 PM