SW Radio Africa (London)
Lance Guma
18 November 2008
MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti still faces a treason charge, despite a court on Tuesday dropping two other charges.
His lawyer Chris Mhike confirmed to journalists that the charges relating to 'insulting the President' and 'causing disaffection to the armed forces' had all been dropped. But the Harare East MP still faces charges relating to 'treason' and 'making statements likely to cause public disorder.' His next hearing will be on the 4th December.
Biti was arrested on 12th June this year on arrival at Harare International airport from South Africa, where he was in self-imposed exiled. Soon after the March elections, won by the MDC and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Biti addressed a press conference in which he announced the party's own tabulated election results. This was because the government run Zimbabwe Election Commission refused to release the results within the stipulated time frame, sparking fears they were tampering with the result.
The Mugabe regime then engineered an elaborate propaganda campaign in which they accused Biti of plotting to rig the elections on behalf of the MDC. A fake 13 page letter, allegedly written by Biti, was then published in the state run media outlining the supposed MDC rigging plans, which included bribing polling officers to overstate MDC votes.
Meanwhile state media reports say the drafting of Constitutional Amendment 19, to give legal effect to September's power sharing deal between the MDC and ZANU PF, has begun. Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told the Herald that once the government's legal drafting team had finished their work, both ZANU PF and the MDC would have a chance to scrutinize the document.
But MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Newsreel they would reject anything drafted by ZANU PF on it's own. 'This is the same attitude of unilateralism from ZANU PF that has been a problem,' he said, adding that both parties should be involved in the drafting of the Amendment. Chamisa blasted the whole concept of ZANU PF communicating with the MDC via the media, saying they expected formal communications between the two parties.
Responding to the SADC resolution recommending the sharing of the Home Affairs Ministry the MDC has set out several conditions for joining the government. These include the enactment of Constitutional Amendment 19, the equitable sharing of ministries, composition of the National Security Council, correction of the agreement which was illegally doctored before the singing ceremony and the appointment of provincial governors, permanent secretaries and ambassadors.
Despite false state media reports, claiming the MDC would join the all inclusive government, the party reiterated Tuesday they would not join until their conditions were met.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 SW Radio Africa. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
