MOVEMENT for Democratic Change (MDC) treasurer-general Roy Bennett would stand trial in Zimbabwe in October on terrorism charges, his lawyer said yesterday.

The case against Bennett has deepened divisions in the fragile unity government formed in February by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change to end a long political crisis and a decade of economic ruin.

Bennett was nominated as deputy agriculture minister, and is among the few remaining white founder members of the party. The former coffee farmer was arrested in February and accused of plotting against the government. He will go on trial in the eastern city of Mutare, charged with illegal possession of arms for purposes of terrorism and banditry.

Bennett denies the charges for which he faces life in jail if convicted.

Bennett’s lawyer Trust Maanda said prosecutors set October 13 as the trial date, and relaxed his bail conditions. He would report to the police twice a month instead of weekly.

Tsvangirai has said Bennett will be sworn in as junior minister next month when five MDC officials are scheduled to take their positions as provincial governors as part of the agreement between the MDC and Zanu (PF). Tsvangirai said the unity government was not in danger of splitting, a day after his deputy said the Movement for Democratic Change might consider leaving it.

The latest development on Bennett’s fate is a new test of his resolve to stay in the coalition government.

Tsvangirai’s deputy, Thokozani Khupe, had said the MDC reserved the right to “disengage” from its coalition with party.

Khupe, who is also vice-president of the MDC, said this after Mugabe “unilaterally” changed the date of a cabinet meeting yesterday. That meeting would have been chaired by Tsvangirai.

Some of Tsvangirai’s closest supporters within and outside his party had questioned the wisdom of entering the coalition, and tensions within the Movement for Democratic Change have been evident for months. But Tsvangirai has long insisted he sees the coalition as the only way to move Zimbabwe forward, and, so far, his opinion has prevailed.

Tsvangirai said on Tuesday he and Mugabe would discuss problems in the coalition when Mugabe returned from the AU summit. Reuters, Bloomberg, Sapa-AP