Posted on 02/10/2003 4:07:46 PM PST by Clive
Harare - Zimbabwe ordered the key prosecution witness in the treason trial of President Robert Mugabe's main political opponent on Monday not to divulge details of a contract he has with the government.
State Security Minister Nicholas Goche issued a certificate ordering Canadian political consultant Ari Ben-Menashe not to reveal details of the contract, citing national security concerns, a move defence lawyers denounced as unconstitutional.
Ben-Menashe is the state's main witness against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and two colleagues who may face the death sentence if convicted of plotting to kill Mugabe, as he says they were doing at a video-taped meeting he arranged.
Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and two senior party officials deny the charges.
Last week, Ben-Menashe refused to answer defence questions regarding work he did for the government for a US$100 000 payment, citing a confidentiality clause in the year-old contract.
Defence lawyers dismissed the certificate, submitted as the trial went into its second week, as ridiculous.
"The certificate is an unconstitutional attempt to interfere with your lordship's judicial functions, your lordship has power to...ignore it," chief defence lawyer George Bizos told Judge Paddington Garwe.
Bizos, a South African, rose to fame 40 years ago when he defended South African activist Nelson Mandela in a high-profile treason trial brought during apartheid rule.
Defence alleges trap
Bizos said if the court accepted the certificate, the defence would like to cross-examine Goche on his reasons because Ben-Menashe had already been proving to be an "unco-operative and cagey witness". He was refusing to tell the court what work he had done for the Zimbabwe government to earn the money.
"We believe this money was paid for work already done in relation to this trap. If our hands are going to be tied behind our backs there will be untold prejudice to the accused in this case. My Lord, we cannot allow interference in the courts, even from ministers," he said.
Ben-Menashe denied on Friday that any of the money his company received from the government in early 2002 was payment for recording the Tsvangirai meeting, but gave no more details.
Prosecutor Bharat Patel said the contract was confidential.
"The agreement is curiously crafted, I must agree, but it is crafted in such a manner that the issue of confidentiality is in-built," Patel said, noting the certificate argued that detailed discussions of the agreement would affect Zimbabwe's state security and diplomatic relations.
"Any attempt to disclose these details would impair the security of the state," he said.
Ben-Menashe says his company alerted Canadian, Zimbabwean and US authorities to the alleged plot after two meetings where Tsvangirai discussed Mugabe's "elimination" and arranged a third in December 2001 to gather video-taped evidence.
The defendants say the recording was edited to discredit Tsvangirai and the MDC before the March 2002 elections, which opponents and some Western governments say Mugabe rigged.
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