Former Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP Roy Bennett was last week denied asylum by South Africa’s department of home affairs, which found that he does not face persecution in Zimbabwe. He has appealed against the decision to the Refugee Appeals Board. Bennett, an avowed pan-Africanist, who speaks deep Shona with a Manyika accent, is affectionately known in Zimbabwe as Pachedu (“We can do it on our own”).
How do you rate the chances of winning your appeal?
I believe South Africa has the rule of law, a strong and thriving democracy and I believe there will be independent thinking once the evidence surrounding my case is presented.
You came to South Africa after being accused of possessing weapons. Charges against some of your co-accused have been dropped. Why did you flee Zimbabwe?
That was a landmark finding by Justice Hungwe, the first chairperson of the War Veterans Association in post-independence Zimbabwe and a staunch Zanu-PF activist. He ruled that there was no basis for the charges. My co-accused, Mike Hitschman, is still in jail, even though he was promised freedom if he would implicate me. The CIO [Central Intelligence Organisation] tried to intervene in the attorney general’s office. The executive sat and agreed to ignore that judgement and passed down instructions that I should be arrested for treason.
Why come to South Africa?
Firstly this is an African issue. I am an African, I have no business in Britain or Europe. Secondly, I believe in South African democracy, which enjoys a fair and just system — something we don’t have in Zimbabwe. It would also serve to highlight to the government in South Africa the true situation in Zimbabwe.
Did you not enjoy certain privileges as an MP, compared to ordinary Zimbabweans?
Parliament is a joke in Zimbabwe. Right through my parliamentary status I was treated by the police like a common criminal. I was arrested several times and thrown into the cells in my constituency. My office was trashed while the police stood by and watched.
Have you been in touch with the Zimbabwean authorities?
I have tried to talk to them for six years, and they have ignored me and treated me like a piece of dirt. On 12 occasions I woke up in the middle of the night when the military came to search for arms. When I was in prison, they took a bulldozer and dug up my farm, looking for arms.
All the time I was being harassed, I had meetings with the [former] speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa and with the vice-president Joseph Msika, to absolutely no avail. They did nothing to help.
How are you coping financially?
Basically it is a very embarrassing position. I have a suitcase between myself, my wife and my daughter. I depend on the goodwill of friends and family.
If the appeal is turned down what will you do?
I will go to the high court.
If you are granted asylum, wouldn’t that open the flood gates?
Each case must be taken on its own merits, and if it does open the floodgates and those people who come are genuine victims of a corrupt regime and failed state, it should finally dawn on the South African government that all is not well in Zimbabwe.
If everyone leaves, who will engage Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe?
There are many activists in Zimbabwe who are not known by the state. The movement is now more underground than before. The more you are victimised the more you go underground. South Africans would understand that, having gone through the same oppression, and history tells us how they reacted. Not everybody could leave the country, but many leaders went into exile.
Are members of the opposition still being persecuted?
Not just members of the opposition, anyone who is in disagreement with the regime. The persecution is relentless. You have a despotic regime holding on to power by any means.
Do you think Pretoria could have handled the crisis in Zimbabwe differently?
I do. If they had been properly informed and knew the truth of the situation, they could have acted accordingly, particularly after the struggle they have been through. It is not a crime, unpatriotic or un-pan-Africanist to recognise that a liberator, revered by all, has turned into a despot and a tyrant with a regime to match.
If you were granted asylum, how would that affect relations between Harare and Pretoria?
It would show the truth and the reality of the Zimbabwe situation. One of the saddest misconceptions that has been very successfully portrayed by the regime is that the situation in Zimbabwe is over land and race, and that, therefore, it is an issue between Zimbabwe and Britain. There were more elephants in Zimbabwe than whites [in 2000]. If I, a third-generation Zimbabwean with the full support of my black brothers am not Zimbabwean, then what of the heroes of the South African liberation: Ruth First, Joe Slovo and Ronnie Kasrils? Are they colonialists or British puppets? If they are, so am I!