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(NEWZIMBABWE) WikiLeaks: Moyo sues Daily News

WikiLeaks: Moyo sues Daily News
07/09/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

TSHOLOTSHO North MP Jonathan Moyo [Zanu PF] said Wednesday he is suing The Daily News over “criminal distortions” arising from the newspaper’s coverage of the United States embassy cables leaked by WikiLeaks.

Moyo said he had “no problem” with a March 30, 2007, diplomatic cable written by former US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, following a private meeting, adding: “But I have very serious legal issues with The Daily News who for reasons best known to themselves have decided to rewrite the original cable in a defamatory and criminal way.”

The former Information Minister’s lawyer Joseph Mandizha confirmed he had been instructed by Moyo to begin legal action against the newspaper.

In a September 6 article under the headline ‘Moyo's plans to oust Mugabe’, the paper claimed that the MP “endorsed travel and economic sanctions imposed on Mugabe's ruling elite by the US and other Western countries to the extent that he even offered suggestions on potential targets”.

Moyo said: “Those claims are scandalously defamatory. There is absolutely nothing of the sort contained in the cable in question.”

In another article headlined ‘Moyo advised US on Zanu PF sanctions list’ published on September 7, The Daily News reported that “Jonathan Moyo who has been very vocal on the contentious issue of sanctions advised the US government on key Zanu PF individuals he wanted placed on the restrictive measures, latest WikiLeaks have revealed".

The same article also claims that “Moyo advised that sanctions had to hit hard the key players in Zanu PF to weaken President Robert Mugabe and his party”.

Moyo stormed: “There is absolutely nothing of the sort in the cable in question and the claim is wilfully and intentionally defamatory.

“The cable in question does not have anything whatsoever about any names of key Zanu PF individuals that I wanted placed on the sanctions list; nothing whatsoever. The claim is entirely an invention of the Daily News.”

In the cable, reproduced here by New Zimbabwe.com, Ambassador Dell wrote: "Moyo said his colleagues were aware of the Ambassador's remarks in a SW Radio interview that the U.S. should consider expanding sanctions to parliamentarians.

"He said he understood a policy of expanding sanctions to include politburo and central committee members (and their families) because they are in decision making positions; he thought it unfair, however, to include the large majority of parliamentarians who are not members of either committee.

“Including them on the sanctions list might push them into Mugabe's camp; not including them might be an incentive to exercise independence.”

Moyo, who is under United States travel sanctions and was an independent MP at the time, said: “Given that the Zanu PF politburo and central committee were already on the list, myself included on grounds that I was a decision maker who had been an architect of laws such as AIPPA which are alleged to have narrowed democratic space in Zimbabwe, it is absurd and defamatory to suggest I sought the addition of any names to the list.

“It is very clear from the cable that the sanctions issue arose after I queried comments Ambassador Dell had made on SW Radio to the effect that his government was going to add parliamentarians on the sanctions list.

“I told him, as clearly captured in the cable, while I understood their sanctions policy, adding Zanu PF MPs on the sanctions list when they are not in the politburo or central committee was unfair and inconsistent with the claim that the likes of myself and politburo and central committee members were put on the list as decision makers in the party or government.

“This is what is clearly contained in paragraph 15 of the cable which deals with issue by actually recalling what I said. It is notable that in fact Dell recalls me as having said I ‘understood’ their sanctions policy and not having said I ‘accepted’ it.”

Moyo said he had asked his lawyers “not to waste time asking for a retraction from The Daily News” but issue them with summons straight away.
“Their malice in doctoring the cable is too apparent to the point of bordering on criminality,” he said.

Moyo, who has repeatedly criticised western sanctions on Zimbabwe, is sensitive to suggestions he would have asked for the same sanctions to “hit hard” on Zanu PF officials, as claimed by The Daily News.

The Daily News’ news editor Guthrie Munyuki said last night: “We are yet to get a copy of the summons, I imagine we will be in a better position to respond then.”

Labels: COURTS, JONATHAN MOYO, WIKILEAKS

posted by MrK @ 3:44 PM