The prosecution of Zimbabwe Senator Roy Bennett has been an issue in the fragile "inclusive" government since its inception: he was arrested trying to leave the country on the very day most of the Cabinet was sworn in on February 13, and President Robert Mugabe has adamantly refused to swear him in as deputy minister of agriculture.
But Bennett's indictment and re-arrest this week has outraged the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai while highlighting that the rule of law remains to be restored after years of close control by Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF.
For a closer look at the latest turn in the Bennett case, reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe turned to Ozias Tungwarara, director of the Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Earnest Mudzengi, director of the National Constitutional Assembly, a Zimbabwean civic group.
Both said Bennett case and the ongoing prosecutions of numerous MDC lawmakers show that the unity government has yet to restore the integrity of the judicial system.
Governance advocate Tungwarara said however that Bennett's arrest was not surprising to him as ZANU-PF does not seem committed to the success of the unity government.
