“Why arrest Roy Bennett?,” reads the headline at My Heart's in Accra about the MDC Treasurer General and Deputy Minister of Agriculture designate, Roy Bennett, who was arrested Friday in Harare. He was charged with treason before these charges were dropped and replaced with attempt to commit terrorism, banditry and sabotage. Zimbabwean bloggers and others have not been silent about his arrest. Many bloggers consider the charges against Bennett to be false. One bloggers links his arrest to Mugabe's hatred for white farmers. Bennett was a commercial farmer before he went into exile in South Africa. It is reported that soon after his arrival in Zimbabwe from his exile, he visited his old farm. But who is Roy Bennett?: Bennett was once a star commercial farmer, but one without the stereotypical reputation of the Rhodesian-style white farmer. He enjoyed good relations with the surrounding community for one, even once winning election to parliament in a pretty much all-black constituency. He strongly resisted the take over of his farm at the height of the farm invasions. Unlike the situation with the disposession of many other white farmers, Bennett was supported in that resistance by many in the local community. That contradicted the Mugabe narrative of white farms being taken over in order to benefit a grateful black peasantry. That initial eagerness and gratitude was indeed the case amongst local communities in many parts of the country, especially in areas where the white farmers had bad relations with those communities, which was far from unheard of. So Bennett annoyed officialdom not only by his strenuous resistance to the takeover of his farm, but by that local support as well. Then there was the additional ‘insult’ of his being elected to parliament, where he further earned more enemies by his outspokenness. When he pushed close Mugabe confidant and government minister Patrick Chinamasa to the floor during a row in parliament, the political guns were set against him. He was jailed for for that un-parliamentary physical confrontation, lost his seat and then had treason charges made against him, causing him to flee to South Africa. He only returned to Zimbabwe in the last 10 days or so for the swearing in of the new unity government. Just last week there were media stories remarking in surprise how he had not been harassed or arrested on his return, despite the old treason charges still being outstanding. Ethan has trouble figuring out why the police in Zimbabwe would arrest him. He notes that no one will take “the new Zimbabwe” serious as long as Bennett remains in prison: Bennett is a controversial figure – he’s the treasurer of the MDC, and an extremely vocal critic of Mugabe and ZANU-PF. As a white farmer, he’s an extremely symbolic figure in Zimbabwean politics. When his successful coffee farm was seized in 2004, he attacked fellow MPs on the floor of parliament and was arrested and imprisoned for several months. Accused of participating in a plot to overthrow Mugabe’s government, he fled to South Africa, where he’s lived in exile until last week. Bennett was invited to join the power-sharing government as deputy agriculture minister, and came back into Zimbabwe. He was arrested Friday afternoon in Harare and taken to a prison in eastern Zimbabwe, where he was initially charged with treason. The treason charges were dropped, and he’s now charged with the three-year old charges of financing terrorism, the charges that led him into exile. My friends at Sokwanele describe these charges as “a fishing expedition”, and are demanding his immediate and unconditional release. American political strategist Joe Trippi has been calling a great deal of attention to Bennett’s case around the world, naming the individuals at Mutare Prison responsible for his safety, in the hopes of keeping Bennett safe from abuse or torture. I’m baffled by the decision to arrest Bennett. Yes, he was a provocative choice for a ministerial position, a test by MDC to see whether ZANU-PF was serious about cooperating. His arrest seems to suggest that ZANU-PF isn’t serious, and is testing to see what would be required to get Tsvangirai to walk away from the partnership. If we could know more about the machinations behind the scenes, we might discover other factors at play – the Zimbabwe Times speculates that there may be pressure coming from politicians who seized Bennett’s farm with government cooperation, and are now worried that Bennett will be able to take his property back. Why’s Bennett in jail? It’s hard to know for sure. But no one will take “the new Zimbabwe” seriously as long as he remains in prison.