"Bennett Will Go To Jail"

Roy Bennet leaving Mutare Prison on March 12 this year, a full month after his fellow ministers and Deputy Ministers from the Tsvangirai MDC had been sworn in by Mugabe. Sunday 12 July is four-month anniverary of that release, and he is still not sworn in. Mugabe makes promises, Tsvangirai and his apologists swallow them........

The idiotic lie that Roy Bennett will be sworn in at the same time as the MDC-T Governors, which is supposedly to happen next month, is still being regurgitated by Tsvangirai apologists, even as the MDC-T itself as a party acknowledges that it has been sold a dummy by Mugabe.

You will recall that in March this year, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara took up the issue with Mugabe because Tsvangirai was too scared to confront Mugabe on it. Mutambara was told by Mugabe that Bennett would not be sworn in because he has a serious case against him pending in the courts.

Mutambara pressed the point and asked The Solution what would happen if Bennett was acquitted. Mugabe responded, according to Mutambara, by saying, "He will not be acquitted."

Just yesterday, another of Mugabe's people in ZANU PF was telling me, "Don't be fooled by all this talk, Bennett will go to jail."

And Mugabe should know about that, seeing as he controls the judiciary in Zimbabwe, much as he controls everything else, a result of Tsvangirai's myopic signing of an agreement that guaranteed Mugabe all the constitutional rights of an Executive President under the current Constitution.

Roy Bennett' case has now been scheduled for October this year. He is charged with terrorism and arms-related offences.

The idea, as you can see, is to ensure that Bennett does not have any time in office.

It is most likely that if he is sworn in at all, it will be at the very end of August, after which he immediately starts attending court to defend himself.

And as Mugabe said, Bennett, by hook or by crook, will be found guilty and jailed. The sentence he will be be given will be a political sentence, meaning that the courts will ensure that he is sent away for the rest of the envisaged life of this discredited Government National DisUnity.

So he is unlikely to get less than 4 years in jail. Perhaps "with hard labour" will be thrown in gratuitously, as it was with the MDC-T MP from Manicaland earlier this year.

And once convicted, Mugabe will very plausibly argue that, since PM Tsvangirai said "innocent until proven guilty" - guilt would have been established and Bennett would not be eligible to be nominated for any post in government.

And that will be end of the story.

Mugabe, Chinamasa and the service chiefs are determined to ensure that Bennett does not sit in his office as DeputyMinister of Agriculture.

They will achieve their end. Tsvangirai will capitulate. On that you can bet your bottom dollar. If you lose it, I will refund you, with interest.

I really have no idea where the people who think he will be serve as Deputy Minister of Agriculture are getting their optimism. Mugabe's track record on Gono and Tomana should really inform them on this.

But the MDC-T and its apologists live in cloud cuckoo-land, where their wishes are horses.

Mugabe knows now that the MDC-T will not leave the Inclusive Impediment to The People's Hopes no matter what. What would be the consequences, then, if he refuses to honour this promise to Tsvangirai (remember, the promise was announced by Tsvangirai. Mugabe and ZANU PF have said nothing at all and at a later stage, then can easily turn around and ask, "When did you hear me promise to swear him in?")?

We only have Tsvangirai and the MDC-T's word for this.

As ever, I am taking bets.