HARARE – Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has written to Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa asking him to stop a brigadier general from unlawfully using national army soldiers to invade a white-owned farm, in a sign of growing discord within Zimbabwe’s coalition government.

Tsvangirai’s letter, whose disclosure came as a court ordered a top official of the PM’s MDC party, Roy Bennett, back to jail to heighten tensions in the shaky unity government, was copied to President Robert Mugabe, Commander-in-Chief of Zimbabwe’s armed forces and to Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairman, Joseph Kabila.

The SADC is alongside the Africa Union a guarantor of last year’s power-sharing agreement between Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara that led to formation of the coalition government last February.

“I hereby . . . request that your office institutes appropriate action against Brigadier (Justin) Mujaji to ensure his immediate cessation of illegal activities, in particular, the use of the Zimbabwe National Army to perpetrate unlawful acts,” read part of Tsvangirai’s letter, dated October 7.

Mujaji, the director general in charge of planning and programmes at Zimbabwe Defence Forces headquarters in Harare, several weeks ago deployed armed soldiers at Charles Lock’s Karori farm in Manicaland province in a bid to drive the white farmer off the property.

The army officer, who has allegedly stolen some of Lock’s crops, has openly defied several court orders to allow the white farmer to retrieve his personal belongings from the farm.

The soldiers threatened to shoot Lock and a court deputy sheriff who was accompanying him to his farm to collect his personal belongings.

In his letter, Tsvangirai narrates how Mujaji has defied court orders and how the brigadier has used national army soldiers as “private force” but the Premier does not say what action he will take should Mnangagwa fail to act against the army officer.

Tsvangirai wrote: “Charles Lock has obtained six High Court orders against Brigadier Mujaji. The Prime Minister’s office is aware of the fact that Brigadier Mujaji has disregarded all of the six High Court orders and is using attested members of the Zimbabwe National Army as a private force in contravention of the country’s laws and Constitution.”

It was not possible to immediately get comment from Mnangagwa or Tsvangirai’s spokesman James Maridadi on the matter.

But sources in the Prime Minister’s office said Mnangagwa – a powerful Mugabe ally – had not yet responded to the letter by yesterday, despite a demand by Tsvangirai for immediate response and action.

In addition, soldiers remained camped at Lock’s farm as Zimbabwe’s coalition government appeared headed for more choppy waters especially after Bennett’s incarceration yesterday.

Bennett, the MDC’s treasurer and its nomination for deputy minister of agriculture in the unity government, was sent to jail pending his trail at the High Court on charges of possessing weapons for the purposes of committing banditry, insurgency and terrorism.

The MDC politician denies the charges that Tsvangirai has also condemned as politically motivated. The MDC yesterday reacted angrily to Bennett’s jailing calling it a “serious attack on the credibility” of the coalition government.

The incarceration of Bennett and refusal by Mnangagwa to act against Mujaji as demanded by Tsvangirai is certain to fuel tempers within the hardliner camp in the MDC, already angry over what they see as attempts by Mugabe to relegate the former opposition to a junior role in the power-sharing government.

By Zimonline