Standing Up to Mugabe

It’s hard to understand how people with extraordinary courage keep going when everything seems to conspire against them.

We may not fully understand it, but most of us admire it.

Roy Bennett, a former South Rhodesian policeman and farmer, became a politician after his country evolved into Zimbabwe – elected in an overwhelmingly black area where locals stood by him and opposed the regime taking over his farm.

As the most outspoken of three whites elected to the Zimbabwean House of Assembly, trouble and controversy were Bennett’s perennial companions. No one – least of all the 89-year-old President Robert Mugabe, disciple of Marxism and emulator of Stalin – doubts that Bennett’s battles against tyranny are on behalf of the people.

Today Bennett is on trial in Harare, charged with terrorism, following charges three years ago of treason and plotting to overthrow Mugabe – all because Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won the general election which Mugabe refused to accept.

Bennett, who had received sanctuary in South Africa, returned to Zimbabwe after a power-sharing agreement: Mugabe to remain president, Tsvangirai to be prime minister. Bennett, treasurer for the MDC was named deputy minister of Agriculture.

By all reasonable standards, Zimbabwe has become ungovernable. In defense of Bennett, Tsvangirai boycotts the so-called unity government, where in 2008 inflation soared to 231,550,880% and unemployment peaked at 94%. Weird.

Over the years, Bennett has made several trips to Canada to rally support – not for himself so much as for Zimbabwe. The only virtue of Mugabe’s tyranny is that it has unified the country against him. Blacks and what whites have not fled Zimbabwe are mostly aligned with the MDC. Tsvangirai’s courage and grit exceed logic.

Bennett has already served time in jail. Shortly after visiting Toronto in 2004, he returned to Zimbabwe’s Parliament and heard Justice Minister Patrick Chinamassa announce that his farm in Chimanimani would be taken over by the government and re-settled – dooming both the farm’s productivity and jobs for locals.

The minister’s rationale: “Mr. Bennett has not forgiven the government for taking his farm, but he forgets that his forefathers were thieves and murderers.”

Bennett walked across the floor of Parliament, seized Chinamassa by the collar and wrestled him to the floor. He took a swing at the Anti-Corruption minister, who kicked him, and the joint erupted. Other MPs took out their guns(!) and order was restored. Bennett was ejected.

A Parliamentary committee ruled that Bennett should be jailed for 15 months.

Bennett was freed after eight months, and immediately held a press conference denouncing prison conditions. He’d been given prison garb, splattered with human excrement, mistreated, and told details of how prisoners were abused without legal representation. He vowed to fight harder than ever for Zimbabweans.

At elections, in efforts to beat Bennett, those voting for Mugabe’s ZANU-PF were given bags of grain and food. Vote against Mugabe, and the police took names. Still Bennett won.

It’s hard to see how even Zimbabwe’s mockery of a justice system can convict Bennett. But it highlights the horror that has turned Zimbabwe from a breadbasket for Africa into a basket case.

Since Africa seems unwilling to oppose Mugabe, the civilized world would be justified in refusing aid and economic relations with any African country that supports Mugabe. It might even be a catalyst for change.