Mash West mourns Roy Bennett

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The late former MDC-T treasurer-general, Roy Bennett’s family was among the few white farmers who accepted the resettlement programme in the early 80s and was disliked by some people of his own race for supporting Zanu PF, The Standard has heard.

The late former MDC-T treasurer-general, Roy Bennett’s family was among the few white farmers who accepted the resettlement programme in the early 80s and was disliked by some people of his own race for supporting Zanu PF, The Standard has heard.

NHAU Mangirazi

Bennett, who was also known by the Shona name “Pachedu”, died together with his wife Heather in a plane crash in the United States last week.

Bennett’s family reportedly gave part of their farm near Kasimure, Pote area in Hurungwe to blacks. David Chareka whose parents had a plot near Kasimure along the Harare-Chinhoyi highway said beneficiaries were allocated 40 hectares of land each around 1984.

“Bennett’s family believed in equitable land redistribution and wanted blacks to get a share of land and that is why the family gave away that farm,” Chareka said.

There is a bus stop called Bennett, named after the politician’s family along the highway. Bennett was very popular with the local black Zimbabweans for his benevolence and his proficiency in local languages.

Peter Tambala, a former motor spares manager at a motor vehicle sales company in Karoi, said Bennett used to be disliked by many of his fellow whites as he was then a staunch Zanu PF supporter.