Subsequent Developments
During the MDC split over the proposed boycott of elections to the Zimbabwe Senate in 2005, Bennett sided with MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai in support of the boycott.
Roy Bennett previously lived in South Africa as a refugee. His application for asylum was initially rejected by the South African Department of Immigration. After a court ruling by the South African Human Rights Commission, his asylum request was accepted on 13 May 2007.
During his time in exile, he had an active role in activism for Zimbabwe and particularly the MDC in South Africa. In 2006 he became the treasurer general for the main stream faction of the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai. He was also a spokesmen in South Africa and made regular interviews on behalf of the MDC.
During Robert Mugabe's 84th Birthday celebrations at the border area of Beitbridge before the 2008 election, Roy Bennett led a demonstration on the South African side of the border against the President:
- "We are gathered here after many years of suffering, while across the river, after 28 years, a man who is now 84 years old, is having a birthday party. A birthday party while everybody around him is starving and dying. There's no electricity, there are no roads, there are no jobs, there's no education, there's no medical, there's no nothing. He is spending 300,000 US dollars to have a birthday party."
Read more about this topic: Roy Bennett (politician)
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