Zimbabwe’s eight-month-old unity government hung by a thread Thursday as a crisis grew over the re-arrest of a senior member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change.
Tsvangirai canceled Thursday’s weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers that he chairs, with his spokesman saying he would not be coming to office until the detention of MDC treasurer-general Roy Bennett was resolved.
James Maridadi said the protest came in the wake of several unsuccessful attempts by the premier to schedule a meeting with President Robert Mugabe or Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa or Attorney General Johannes Tomana to discuss Bennett’s detention.
The former opposition chief was Thursday due to hold an emergency meeting of his MDC party to discuss the issue of Bennett.
Deputy Agriculture Minister-designate Bennett was indicted for trial on Wednesday and subsequently re-detained when his trial on charges of possessing weapons of war opened in the eastern border town of Mutare.
The indictment immediately revoked an earlier bail granted by the High Court in May.
Source African Press Agency
