Zimbabwe minister faces treason charge

'Rogue elements' are accused of seeking to strangle unity government at birth, reports Daniel Howden, Africa Correspondent

(EPA)

Zimbabwe's former opposition Movement for Democratic Change denied yesterday that it is poised to abandon the unity government with Robert Mugabe, despite serious rifts in the power-sharing deal.

The new Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, was last night seeking an emergency meeting with President Mugabe to discuss the arrest of the MDC's Roy Bennett, the white farmer named as the new deputy minister of agriculture. He has since been charged with treason and is believed to be in detention in the eastern city of Mutare.

Senior MDC sources said that "rogue elements" within the security services and upper echelons of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party were determined to collapse the new administration. But the new information minister, the MDC's Nelson Chamisa, said the continuing arrests would not be allowed to wreck the deal. "This is political turbulence," he told the Independent on Sunday. "But I can assure you that those of us in the cockpit know the plane is not about to crash." There were, he added "purveyors of instability" who did not want the government to succeed, "but we are going to triumph".

Reports that the MDC mayor of Mutare had been arrested were later denied by the party. But scores of activists with the women's group WOZA were arrested after attempting a peaceful march in the city of Bulawayo. It was the second time in five days that the group had been harassed by police.

Rumours of fresh arrests underline the tremendous battle for control that is being waged in Harare. At the centre of the power struggle is the shadowy Joint Operations Command (JOC), whose members include the chiefs of the army, police and air force. The body was formally dissolved under the new government and is supposed to be replaced by a National Security Council. However, leading JOC figures, such as the air force chief, Perence Shiri, have no intention of seeing their power diluted and have moved aggressively against the new administration.

The JOC was used last March after the election defeat of Zanu-PF to terrorise opposition voters ahead of the second round in June. The violence claimed the lives of more than 150 people, while thousands of others were tortured or driven from their homes.

Recent arrests have created confusion over the authority of Mr Mugabe himself, after an order from his lieutenant, Emmerson Mnangagwa, for the release of Mr Bennett was ignored.

An MDC minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the President, who turns 85 on Saturday: "He's a tired old man. In some senses [he is] a prisoner of what he has created. These guys are not listening to him."

It remains unclear whether the veteran political operator instigated the arrests, but analysts have pointed out that in the 1980s he undermined and humiliated Joshua Nkomo, his previous partner in a power-sharing deal.

Since being sworn in as Prime Minister last Wednesday, Mr Tsvangirai has faced a series of setbacks including the authorities' refusal to release political prisoners, several of whom are said to be close to death. The MDC has laid down "litmus tests" for the new government, including the release of prisoners, the freedom of the domestic and international press to report, and the sacking of the corrupt central bank governor. So far none of those conditions has been met.

While the political wrangling continues, there are daily reports of deaths from starvation. A cholera epidemic has spread to every area of the country, with the World Health Organisation reporting more than 70,000 cases.