SW Radio Africa (London)
Tichaona Sibanda
12 June 2008
MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti was arrested as he stepped off a plane at Harare International airport on Thursday, the first time he's been back in the country in two months.
Police in Harare said they expect to charge him with treason, which can carry the death penalty. They said they have documents linking Biti to discussions about changing Robert Mugabe's regime.
Police spokesman assistant commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said Biti would also be charged with making false statements - a charge that refers to accusations that he announced the election results before the official count was released.
Luke Tamborinyoka, the party's director of information, said 10 plain-clothes policemen and central intelligence officers picked up Biti as he made his way towards the customs and immigration formalities.
'They handcuffed his hands behind his back and waylaid him to a waiting vehicle, registration number AA 03822. He was whisked to an unknown destination, but our lawyers are making frantic efforts to locate his whereabouts,' Tamborinyoka said.
Biti left Johannesburg on Thursday morning aboard a South African airways flight, accompanied by the party's deputy treasurer Elton Mangoma, who was let through and is safe in Harare. But Biti had made it known to colleagues before his departure that he expected to be arrested the moment he set foot into the country.
The MDC MP for Harare East and the third highest-ranking official in the party said before his flight that the only crime he had committed was fighting for democracy. He said: 'I am prepared to meet whatever will come my way in this long and difficult, but noble road to the country's democracy.'
A source told Newsreel that Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told Biti in Pretoria on Monday that he would be arrested if he ever returned to Zimbabwe.
Chinamasa was part of a Zanu-PF delegation that was meeting MDC officials for last minute negotiations, aimed at coming up with a government of national unity before the June 27th re-run. The MDC has however downplayed the talks, with Morgan Tsvangirai explaining that there will be no deal if Robert Mugabe is at the helm of the unity government.
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Mugabe is running scared. No one voted for him. No one likes him. And he knows it.
"They said they have documents linking Biti to discussions about changing Robert Mugabe's regime."
Isn't an opposition's attempt at changing a regime or removing a president what an election is all about? This shows just how worried Mugabe is. IF he was really confident that people truly wanted him in power, he would not need to arrest opposition candidates for campaigning or attempt to get him voted from power.