https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / All News RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Embed Video

Tsvangirai trial resumes

12th May 2003

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

The trial of Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was set to resume in Harare today against a background of widening political and economic tensions in the southern African country.

Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has been charged with plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe ahead of last year's presidential elections, which Mugabe won.

Tsvangirai denies the charges, alleging he was framed by Mugabe's government. If convicted of treason, he faces the death penalty.

"It (the trial) is going to resume tomorrow," Tsvangirai's lawyer Innocent Chagonda told AFP yesterday.

The high-profile trial of Tsvangirai began amid a blaze of publicity in February and was adjourned nearly eight weeks later in March, when Harare's High Court went into recess.

Two other top MDC officials stand accused with Tsvangirai: Welshman Ncube, the party's secretary general and Renson Gasela, the shadow agriculture minister.

Expected to testify Monday for the prosecution was one of the policemen involved in investigating the alleged treason plot: the fifth of 11 state witnesses.

The state's main witness, Canada-based political consultant Ari Ben Menashe, has already testified.

The treason charges arise from a barely audible videotape of a meeting Tsvangirai held with Ben Menashe in Montreal in December 2001. Ben Menashe alleged that Tsvangirai had asked him at that meeting for assistance to "eliminate" 79-year old Mugabe. But Tsvangirai's lawyers allege that the consultant deliberately tried to entrap the opposition leader.

Tensions between the MDC and Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party have increased in the last two months.

The MDC staged a widely-followed two-day strike in March to protest alleged misgovernance, and then supported a second stayaway called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) last month.

That strike was called to protest a hike in petrol prices of more than 200%.

Tsvangirai and the MDC have warned there will be further strikes. The MDC has been placing full-page advertisements in the private press stating: "The will of the people shall prevail".

The opposition leader has also however said he is willing to meet with Mugabe and the ruling party to chart a way out of Zimbabwe's current political problems.

Last week, three African leaders, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Bakili Muluzi of Malawi, came to Harare for talks with Mugabe and Tsvangirai in a bid to break the political deadlock.

Mugabe appeared shortly after the talks to say that Tsvangirai must accept him as president before any inter-party talks could resume, something the opposition leader is unlikely to do.

The 51-year old former trade union leader has refused to accept Mugabe's victory in the March 2002 presidential polls, and will challenge it in court.

This week the MDC filed an urgent court application to force the High Court to set a date for the long-awaited election petition.

At a rally Sunday in the country's second city of Bulawayo, attended by an estimated 20 000 people, Tsvangirai urged thousands of party supporters to take to the streets in support of his demand for a re-run of last year's presidential poll.

"What the MDC wants to do is for people to go on the streets in numbers. And if we go on the streets (President Robert) Mugabe will know it's over for him," Tsvangirai said.

He did not set a date for the protest. "The dates for the mass action will be announced soon," he said. – Sapa.

Advertisement

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE      FEEDBACK

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here


About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za