A court has withdrawn treason charges against Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change. Analysts say that while this is a good first sign from aproposed unity government, many other political activists remain indetention.
Tendai Biti was charged with treason after his partynarrowly won last year's March election. The charges were based on adocument said to be written by Biti, which he denied.
Thedocument appeared to reflect MDC plans for running the country andexpressed views more appropriate to a racially exclusive whitegovernment. Many Zimbabweans were suspicious about the document,especially because Biti has always supported black majority rule and isa well respected lawyer and senior partner in a large Zimbabwe law firm.
JudgeOlivia Mariga told a court in Harare Friday prosecutors were notprepared for the case and that police had improperly arrested Biti lastyear, effectively dropping the charges against him.
But asidefrom the judge's ruling on Biti, human rights organizations note thereare still about 30 political activists being held in Zimbabwe.
Evenso, Biti's followers and others interpreted the judge's ruling as agood sign, coming less than a day after a constitutional amendment waspassed enabling formation of a unity government this week.
Inthe suburbs of the capital, residents said they were pleased thatlegislators had decided to take part in a unity government.
There were some who worried that any unity government willend up being dominated by President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PFParty. An employee of a Harare law firm was even less optimistic aboutthe pending unity government, believing the Movement for DemocraticChange Party could have done better in negotiations.
"The twoMDC formations I want to believe lost a lot of ground during [the]negotiation period," he said. "They should have stuck to their guns.And I do hope maybe if God can help us once they are in power theyshould quickly, quickly come with a new constitution and go for freshelections."
Morgan Tsvangirai will be sworn into office on Wednesday, followed by the two MDC deputy prime ministers, and the Cabinet.