2:38pm UK, Sunday February 15, 2009

A senior official in Zimbabwe’s MDC party – which has just formed a government with President Robert Mugabe – has been charged with terror offences.

Bennett denies the charges and believes they are politically motivated

Roy Bennett is due in court on Monday, accused of planning to commit acts of terrorism and sabotage.

The case has raised doubts over the credibility of the new government, which sees Mr Mugabe continue as president after three decades in power.

The MDC had earlier said that the deputy agriculture minister nominee was charged with treason.

“They have now preferred charges of insurgency or attempting to commit acts of insurgency, terrorism and banditry,” Mr Bennett’s lawyer Trust Maanda said.

Police claim he plotted to buy arms to attack a telecommunications station in Bromley, east of Harare, “in order to disrupt essential services”, he added.

Robert Mugabe

Bennett has denied the charges and believes they are politically motivated.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC’s leader and Zimbabwe’s new prime minister, said the arrest was an attempt by factions in Mr Mugabe’s party to derail power-sharing.

The coalition government was formed after months of violence and wrangling.

It raised hopes the new administration might halt the nation’s economic meltdown, and tackle hunger and disease in the African country.

Bennett, a white farmer from the Chimanimani region, has a long history of rivalry with Mr Mugabe.

His farm was taken from him under Mr Mugabe’s land reforms in 2003.

The following year he was jailed for eight months after he punched the justice minister during a heated debate in parliament on the land programme.

He returned last month from three years of self-imposed exile in South Africa, where he fled to escape charges of plotting to kill Mr Mugabe.