South African defence lawyer George Bizos on Thursday put the credibility of the star witness to the test in the high treason trial of Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Thursday’s proceedings offered relief to the court, which has so far spent hours struggling to hear poor-quality screened video tape evidence said to implicate Tsvangirai and two of his officials in a plot to ”eliminate” President Robert Mugabe.
Jointly charged with Tsvangirai are the MDC’s secretary general, Welshman Ncube, and shadow agriculture minister, Renson Gasela.
All three deny the charges, which carry the death penalty on conviction.
Witness Ari Ben Menashe, a political consultant based in Canada, secretly recorded a meeting between Tsvangirai and his company, Dickens and Madson, in Montreal in December 2001.
On Thursday a decision was taken to fast forward the tape to the vital sections that the prosecutor wanted to highlight to the court, after which the witness was allowed to be cross-examined.
On Wednesday, Ben Menashe had asked for the process of giving evidence to be speeded up as he said he had to leave Zimbabwe by the end of the week.
The witness, who claims to be a former Israeli intelligence agent, was on Thursday accused by Bizos of being a ”fraudster” and of spinning ”untruths”.
The court was told the defence counsel required ”evidence on the general reputation” of Ben Menashe, whose credibility Bizos said was being put on trial.
Ben Menashe has a reputation for fraud, which the legal team is trying to base its case on.
He has been linked to a case involving fraudulent grain sales to Zambia under former President Frederick Chiluba.
”There is a similarity between the fraud we say was committed against the MDC and its office bearers, and other frauds committed by the witness (Ben Menashe) and his companies, by interfering in high-profile political matters, getting money, and then turning the tables against the people to whom the fraudulent representations were made,” Bizos charged.
Earlier in the day, Ben Menashe, who was commenting on the contents of the video tape, said Tsvangirai and one of his Canadian associates, Alexander Legault, had discussed ”terminating” Mugabe within 10 days.
His statement provoked anger from Bizos, who said Ben Menashe was not seen on film when the discussion allegedly took place. The evidence was disallowed.
However, in giving his summary of his testimony before state lawyer Bharat Patel, Ben Menashe repeated his allegation that Tsvangirai and his associates requested his company to assassinate Mugabe.
”He also asked us to enlist the United States government to assist the MDC in carrying out his plot,” Ben Menashe said.
”The meeting that was videoed was about the transitional government that was supposed to be set up after the assassination of the President, and asking us to try to get the military in Zimbabwe on his side.”
Tsvangirai and his two party officials claim they were set up by Dickens and Madson in a bid to sideline Tsvangirai politically, since he has emerged the most significant threat to Mugabe 23-year hold on power.
They have said they were unaware that Ben Menashe has links with the Zimbabwe government.
Ben Menashe said he had been to Zimbabwe several times before the alleged plot and knew some people in the government. – Sapa-AFP