Police in Harare charge Tsvangirai pilot with fraud

By Tichaona Sibanda
26 March 2008

On Wednesday police in Harare pressed fraud charges against pilot Brent Smythe, in relation to a hotel booking, which was not in his name. The South African pilot had been arrested Tuesday at Charles Prince airport, while preparing to fly MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai to election rallies in remote areas of the country.

Police also impounded the helicopter. Roy Bennett, the treasurer-general of the MDC, confirmed from Johannesburg on Tuesday that he had chartered the helicopter to help Tsvangirai access remote areas.
Bennett said; ‘They charged him under ridiculous charges, and are holding him, because somebody else booked him into the hotel under another name, because he was not there,’ Bennett explained.

The MDC contends the real reason behind Smythe’s arrest was to prevent him flying Tsvangirai across the country, where he was scheduled to address thousands of his supporters.

An official at Smythe’s company in South Africa told Newsreel that foreign affairs officials from the South African embassy in Harare were granted consular access to him. Smythe was arrested along with MDC parliamentary candidate Jameson Timba and another pilot who was helping him refuel his helicopter.
These other two were released late on Tuesday. Smythe is still detained.