A SENIOR member of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party says there is "no constitutional" provision forcing the ageing leader to appoint Roy Bennett as Zimbabwe's deputy agriculture minister.

A SENIOR member of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party says there is "no constitutional" provision forcing the ageing leader to appoint Roy Bennett as Zimbabwe's deputy agriculture minister.

Zanu-PF's secretary for security, Emmerson Mnangagwa, said yesterday that Mugabe was under no obligation to make the long-awaited appointment.

His remarks, a day after Bennett was acquitted by the Harare High Court of terror charges, mark the first signs that Mugabe was not likely to stick to his word.

For more than a year Mugabe has refused to appoint Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's choice for deputy agriculture minister until he was cleared by the courts of "serious charges".

On Monday Judge Chinembiri Bhunu ruled that Bennett was not guilty of the terror charges because the state failed to prove its case.

But Mnangagwa's remarks have put paid to any hopes of a speedy end to the long delay in giving Bennett his portfolio.

Mugabe has not made any public comments on the matter, which has become a major stumbling block to the functioning of the unity government.

Zanu-PF has told President Jacob Zuma that it was "uncomfortable" with Bennett occupying a portfolio connected to land ownership.

Bennett, who is treasurer of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, was a victim of Mugabe's chaotic and seemingly racist land reform.

Several years ago, the army was sent to Bennett's once-thriving Charles Estate farm and forcibly occupied it. The farm remains in government hands.

On Monday, after the acquittal, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said he expected Bennett to be appointed "tomorrow".

But Mnangagwa, who is also the minister of defence, warned that the state might appeal Bhunu's high court ruling in Bennett's favour.