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Former Zimbabwe MP granted asylum
Sunday Times (SA)
May 14, 2007

http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=462336

Former Zimbabwe opposition lawmaker Roy Bennett said he has finally won asylum in neighbouring South Africa becoming the first senior government figure to achieve the political feat.

The "happy" Bennett who has been in the country for over a year now told AFP that the Home Affairs department granted him the asylum papers on Friday after the Refugees Appeal Board overruled a decision by the government to deny him asylum.

"I am very happy that it is finally over and have been granted the (asylum) status," the former Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) member of parliament said.

"I was very disturbed in the beginning when my application was refused even though it was very clear cut and evident that my life was in danger because of my political beliefs," he said.

"The (South African) constitution is very clear on my situation and I was very surprised when it took so long."

Despite his genuine evidence of persecution back in Zimbabwe, Bennett has been struggling to get asylum in South Africa since he applied in March last year.

He fled from Zimbabwe fearing for his life after the government implicated him and several other opposition officials in an alleged assassination plot against President Robert Mugabe in March 2006.

Bennett was sentenced to a year in jail back in October 2004 after he pushed Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa during an argument in parliament.

But the MDC treasurer who is driving his country's opposition struggle in South Africa says he would love to go back to Zimbabwe one day.

"With the political situation in the country now, it will be difficult for me to go back. But I am looking forward to return one day," he said.

Bennett says his asylum status has no conditions attached to it and will be reviewed after two years.

Sapa-AFP

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