Zimbabwe activist to appear in court on plot charge
HARARE (Reuters) - A former Zimbabwean newscaster and nine other opposition activists are expected to appear in court on Wednesday on charges of plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe's government, state media reported.
Jestina Mukoko, head of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was taken away at gunpoint in Harare on December 3 by unidentified men and the High Court had ordered police to find her. Police had previously said Mukoko was not in their custody.
Recent arrests of activists prompted opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to threaten to suspend deadlocked talks with Mugabe on sharing power, adding to doubts over chances for a deal that could rescue Zimbabwe from economic meltdown.
The state-run Herald newspaper said the activists would appear in court on charges of recruiting or attempting to recruit people to undergo military training to topple the government.
Some of the activists had recruited people for military training in Botswana, including a police constable, the newspaper said, citing a police statement.
It said the plan was to "forcibly depose" Mugabe's government and replace it with one headed by opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai.
Zimbabwe has accused Botswana of training opposition insurgents to oust Mugabe. But Botswana, one of Mugabe's toughest critics, has rejected the accusations while South African President Kgalema Motlanthe said last week he did not believe the charges against the MDC.
The opposition accuses authorities of continuing to abduct its activists since the run-up to a violent June presidential run-off election. Tsvangirai boycotted the vote after the attacks, allowing Mugabe to win the one-candidate poll.
NO ACCESS
Lawyers for Mukoko and the other activists said they had not been formally told of the court appearance and they had been denied access to their clients.
Beatrice Mtetwa, one of the lawyers, told journalists that the police were in contempt of High Court orders which said the abductions and detentions were illegal.
"We believe very strongly that any court that allows them to be treated as if they are in lawful custody will be in breach of its obligations to ensure that the law is enforced" she said.
"...the police themselves at all times believed that these individuals had been illegally taken in terms of the law. In our view you cannot take someone who is in unlawful custody for a court appearance and say they are lawfully before a court."
The September 15 power-sharing agreement between Mugabe and Tsvangirai has ground to a halt because of disagreement over control of key ministries, pushing Zimbabwe deeper into crisis.
Hyper-inflation means prices double every day and a cholera epidemic has killed nearly 1,200 people.
Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu accused South Africa of betraying its legacy of struggling against apartheid by failing to take strong action against Mugabe.
Tutu also told the BBC in an interview that military force against Mugabe's government should not be ruled out.
"He must be asked to step down, and if he refuses I really believe that we have to invoke this new doctrine of responsibility to protect," Tutu told BBC radio.
Asked whether that meant going in by force, Tutu said: "Yes, yes -- or certainly the threat of it... He needs to be warned and his cronies must be warned that the world is not just going to sit by and do nothing."
South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma, describing Zimbabwe's situation as "utterly untenable," said it had to be resolved in the New Year.
In a letter to The Times newspaper on Wednesday, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said "any sane person" would realise "that Mugabe's misrule is only spurring Zimbabwe's descent into chaos."
Mugabe has dismissed calls from former colonial power Britain and the United States to step down.