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(NEWZIMBABWE) WikiLeaks: Zanu PF leadership renewal versus MDC treasonous plots

WikiLeaks: Zanu PF leadership renewal versus MDC treasonous plots
By Jonathan MoyoPolitics Last updated on: September 19, 2011

WHILE the media hullabaloo over the so-called Wiki-Leaks saga has been useful in exposing the illiterate foreign-funded ranks of the so-called independent press, this hubbub has been useless in enabling the same audiences to understand current US policy on Zimbabwe as revealed by the same WikiLeaks that are getting unprecedented media coverage.

Our journalists have not explained to their audiences why they have suddenly abandoned their fib whose line two weeks ago was that the most important issue in Zimbabwe today is the SADC electoral roadmap in favour of sensationalising some personalities mentioned in the WikiLeaks cables.

In the process, the innocent and, in fact, harmless clamour for leadership change and renewal espoused by Zanu PF interlocutors in the cables filed in Washington by US diplomats in Harare have been conflated and confused with the US policy for illegal regime change in Zimbabwe through MDC violence which is unambiguously and fully captured and revealed by WikiLeaks in ways that must worry any thinking Zimbabwean, especially in the media.

As such, the whole compendium of WikiLeaks now in the public domain tells two different and diametrically opposed stories that Zimbabweans need to interrogate in order to appreciate what is at stake: One WikiLeaks story confirms the previously known thoughts and frustrations of individuals, particularly but not only high-profile personalities, about President Mugabe’s succession under the banner of leadership change while the other story reveals the diabolic content and extent of US regime-change policy in Zimbabwe which has been based on discreetly sponsoring and publicly covering up MDC violence whose record over the years is revealed by WikiLeaks.

What this means is that while the illiterate and brown envelope-seeking editors of the so-called independent media have been only making noise about everyday calls for leadership renewal which are a constant political truth found in political organisations and movements around the world, they have been corruptly silent about the violent regime-change agenda of the US government in Zimbabwe which has been fully exposed by the American diplomatic cables made public by WikiLeaks.

Against this background, and if there is one unfortunate thing that can be said about the current coverage of the WikiLeaks saga by the so-called independent Press, it is that unlike in other parts of the world in 273 countries including all SADC states that have their own WikiLeaks to contend with, three or so media moguls who own or control publications that have been recklessly vocal about the WikiLeaks have unleashed their brown envelope-seeking and illiterate scribes to singularly and scandalously focus on a few maliciously targeted individuals.

The sad and unfortunate result of this self-serving posture has been to ignore very serious US policy issues arising from the WikiLeaks with far-reaching implications on Zimbabwe’s national interests and security.

This is sad and unfortunate because, as responsible media houses in the other 273 countries have realised about their own cases which have no shortage of personal titbits, some of which are embarrassing, the 251,287 US diplomatic cables covering all US diplomatic posts around the world and released in their entirety by WikiLeaks on August 30 are not about personalities at all but about US policies not only in each of the affected 274 countries over a 44-year period since 1966 but also within the regional groupings to which they belong such as SADC.

In the case of Zimbabwe, a thorough, balanced and informed reading of the entire batch of 2,998 US diplomatic cables now in the public domain would be very significant and important for us to analyse and understand not because of what the various personalities among our compatriots said but because of what the US diplomats said about our country to their government and the US policies that have come from that, such as the institutionalisation of MDC violence as a cynical American strategy to justify regime change in Zimbabwe.

To be sure, what our Zanu PF compatriots said is, of course, interesting from an anecdotal point. This is true, for example, of some outlandish comments made in the cables about President Mugabe’s health along with changing political sentiments that he must go between 1998 and 2008 which changed to become that he must stay since the 2008 presidential run-off election and became even more pronounced with added MDC voices since the formation of the inclusive government in 2009.

The compelling fact is that none of these very interesting comments or sentiments can be said to be policy beyond everyday politics. What people have thought or said about President Mugabe at various times to various audiences whether in the media or as revealed by WikiLeaks through US diplomatic cables is ultimately irrelevant because President Mugabe’s leadership of Zanu PF and our country has always been resolved by election.

In any event, everything that has been reported so far about WikiLeaks revelations on what some Zanu PF leaders are supposed to have told US diplomats is not new at all nor is it abnormal nor criminal nor about regime change. What the Zanu PF comrades are alleged to have said through US diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks is simply and only about the need for leadership change or leadership renewal in Zanu PF and in the country.

While the detail about this need is indeed open to legitimate political questions and debate, its sum and substance in terms of the bigger picture of Zanu PF’s and our country’s future survival is not illegal or wrong and thus cannot be denied by any rational person.

This is why only Zanu PF interlocutors in the US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks can afford with clear consciences to come clean and admit the conversations they held with American diplomats since they have nothing to hide except the innocent and harmless truth and nothing to fear except fear itself. Seeking leadership change in your party or government and telling anyone who is in the country legally with the blessing of the State is not a crime at all because it’s just a thought and we don’t have thought crimes in Zimbabwean laws.

Therefore, Zanu PF leaders who shared their succession thoughts with American diplomats have only their consciences and political careers to deal with, nothing else to worry about and that is why they must come clean and move on. The same goes for MDC politicians including the party’s Cabinet ministers who are reported to have told US diplomats that they have no confidence in Morgan Tsvangirai’s leadership because, among other things, he is mindless, indecisive and lacks the capacity to govern. On this score, the MDC politicians who said this, such as Tendai Biti, Nelson Chamisa, Obert Gutu and Roy Bennett, among others, have nothing to regret, not least because their views are shared by the US government and its British and European allies.

In fact, there is no single cable out of the 2 998 on Zimbabwe which describes Tsvangirai as an effective, capable or desirable national leader. Like everyone else who has encountered him, all interlocutors who spoke to US diplomats revealed by WikiLeaks say in one way or another that Tsvangirai is a hopeless leader with no mind of his own and that he takes the advice of the last person he speaks to.

There would be absolutely no issue or problem if the musings of MDC politicians exposed by WikiLeaks were only about Tsvangirai’s widely acknowledged poor and treacherous leadership which he is able to exercise only when he is under the manipulative “massive hand-holding” of the US government and its European allies.

The problem, and it is a very serious one, arises from the fact that, over and above their lamentations about President Mugabe’s succession, Zanu PF’s alleged shortcomings and Tsvangirai’s acknowledged fatally poor leadership, the MDC cable interlocutors exposed by WikiLeaks also confirmed their illegal and treasonous intentions, thoughts, violent plans and violent actions since 2000 in support of the US illegal regime change policy that permeates WikiLeaks on Zimbabwe.

This explains why no single MDC leader exposed by WikiLeaks has been willing or able to come clean to confirm their conversations with US diplomats about MDC violence which can no longer be denied.

Instead, Tsvangirai himself, who knows only better about the extent of his treasonous treachery, has pleaded with everyone to please “forget WikiLeaks” because he knows better while the likes of Nelson Chamisa are swearing by their mothers that they never uttered anything of the sort contained in the cables that illiterate media morons in the so-called independent Press foolishly imagine is dynamite against Zanu-PF.

In fact, MDC denials, which do not compare with strategic Zanu-PF silence, are an interesting reminder to the legendary tale of a husband who used to serially cheat his wife by passing through his secret small house every day after work for some good sexual healing before retiring home to his loving wife. On one fateful similar day the cheating husband had the misfortune that there was a Zesa power blackout while he was being intimate with his small house and had to dress up in the dark after the intimacy.

As he was dressing up in the dark, the cheating husband ended up putting on the underwear of his small house by mistake. Upon arrival home a bit later than usual the cheating husband found his loving wife already in bed and she had switched off the bedroom lights. Pretending to be in a romantic mood, the cheating husband switched on the lights, jumped on the bed and started undressing while saying rehearsed sweet nothings to his not-so-interested wife.

When he had undressed to the underwear, his wife looked at the spot in utter shock and agitation during a moment which was supposed to be very romantic. The cheating husband looked down and exclaimed with his own utter shock, “ndiani andipfekedza underwear iyi?” (Who put this underwear on me?)

The reaction of the cheating husband to the fact that he had exposed himself to his wife while wearing the underwear of his small house is equivalent to the reaction of MDC politicians like Nelson Chamisa who find themselves exposed not only to Tsvangirai, who is in no better position, but to Zimbabweans in typically treacherous ways that are criminally treasonous and therefore prosecutable.

Take Chamisa’s case. In January 2009, US Ambassador sent a cable to Washington revealed by WikiLeaks reporting that, “Turning to US policy, Chamisa said rhetoric that ‘Mugabe must go’ was empty and counterproductive. Regime opponents initially hoped that the rhetoric would be complemented by action. Inaction on the part of the US was causing people to lose heart.

Further, Zanu-PF was using US statements as a pretext to crack down on the MDC and civil society, both of which it was accusing of collaborating with the US to bring about regime change. We asked Chamisa what concrete actions the US and international community could take. He responded: military intervention to remove the regime, indictments of Mugabe and other Zanu-PF officials in international courts, and sanctioning of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.”

While Chamisa wants Zimbabweans to think that Americans have put the above words revealed by WikiLeaks into his mouth in the same way the cheating husband wanted his loving wife to think somebody else had put the underwear of his small house on him, the fact is that Chamisa’s words reveal an illegal and treasonous intention and they do not at all compare with anything said about any Zanu-PF interlocutor currently being vilified by the so-called independent media whose illiterate scribes have decided to go personal on WikiLeaks.

Take another criminal and treasonous example involving Econet and Strive Masiyiwa who for all these years has claimed to be apolitical and who is behind a particularly treacherous and treasonous daily newspaper that gets free newsprint from the US government and whose illiterate but corrupt and financially hungry editors have been getting brown envelopes from USAID and from a well-known and now desperate local media mogul and businessman who risks drowning in the mud of WikiLeaks politics as well as through foreign-founded and funded regime-change organisations like Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and Idazim.

A US diplomatic cable filed from the US Embassy in Pretoria reveals the following entry about Masiyiwa’s illegal collaboration with the MDC-T and Econet which prima facie establishes a prosecutable case: “Working with the MDC, Masiyiwa has developed a sophisticated, two-part plan to prevent Mugabe from rigging the election, or at least reduce the extent of rigging. (Note: Masiyiwa asked

Staffdel to strictly protect this information, stating that he was only sharing this information with the USG, not other governments, and had planned to do so only next week. Any public disclosure would doom the initiative, Masiyiwa stressed. In addition to the anti-rigging effort, Masiyiwa is funding campaign materials for the MDC, which are being printed in South Africa and smuggled into Zimbabwe.

“First, the Masiyiwa/MDC team is reaching out to local-level GOZ election officials across the country with cards and other materials to urge them not to rig the election, pointing out that rigging is a criminal offence. He has created a hotline to report rigging, with financial rewards for those who report verifiable cheating.

“While Masiyiwa recognises the limitation of this effort, he believes many local officials will be sympathetic to this message; he also notes that even a small reduction in rigging is potentially useful. Second, Masiyiwa has created a parallel vote count centre, based in Johannesburg, that will report the results publicly as soon as they are available, independent of and in advance of, any Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announcements.

“The plan works like this: Once the results are announced at each polling place, the MDC agents will text message or call in the results to a Zimbabwe cellphone number. (Masiyiwa and the MDC are ensuring that all their agents have access to cellphones or even satellite phones as necessary, in the event that the local network is interrupted.) The call will be secretly rerouted to a computer centre in Johannesburg, where Masiyiwa has compiled a team of technical experts to enter the results into a database.

“MDC observers will also count the number of people who enter each local polling station and will compare this number with the local precinct vote count, highlighting discrepancies. The centre will then post the results on an Internet site as they come in, essentially pre-empting the Zimbabwe Election Commission results and any ill intention of Mugabe to falsely claim victory. Masiyiwa’s team will send the Internet link to diplomats and journalists once the results are tabulated. Masiyiwa hopes that the quick public announcement on his Internet site — before the ZEC has time to consult with Mugabe — will generate intense public pressure on Mugabe to accept defeat. The parallel results could be used by the USG and others to encourage South African President Mbeki, AU chairman Kikwete, and others to intervene with Mugabe.”

There’s more evidence from the WikiLeaks cables which the so-called independent Press has deliberately avoided not only because of its links to the likes of Strive Masiyiwa whose illegal dirty tricks and actual financing of the MDC has been exposed by the US diplomatic cables but also the likes of Trevor Ncube whose NewsDay daily newspaper — that has been publishing sensationalised rubbish about some Zanu PF personalities under the editorship of one tired, ageing and irrelevant Iden Wetherell who still dreams that Zimbabwe will return to Rhodesia — has been going out of its way to please nefarious US government interests fronted by its staggering US$4 million funding as revealed by WikiLeaks.

But all this illegal and treasonous stuff which the so-called independent media will not dare report about WikiLeaks because of its fatal attraction to Zanu-PF personalities and its penchant for brown envelopes is nothing compared to the as-yet-unreported WikiLeaks revelations that the US has been aware of and behind systematic regime-change violence perpetrated by Tsvangirai’s MDC against Zanu-PF and Zimbabweans in general. Consider these three examples from US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on August 30.

On March 17 2003, the US Embassy in Harare sent a cable reporting to Washington that “MDC Member of Parliament and National Executive member Tendai Biti… reported that MDC youths are planning to stone or burn commuter omnibuses which attempt to transport people to work in the city centre”.

Commenting on Biti’s startling disclosure to US diplomats that the MDC was planning violence “to stone people and burn commuter minibuses”, the US cable released by WikiLeaks on August 30 reveals that, “the MDC has worked intensively during the past year to establish structures (of violence) in most of Zimbabwe’s urban centres capable of organising mass action.

The fact that Tsvangirai, who has been under enormous pressure to take such a step for much of the past year, has now called for mass action, suggests he believes that the necessary organisation is in place and that the eminently patient Zimbabwean population, angered by political repression and the economic implosion, are finally ready to demonstrate their displeasure. During the past several months, the MDC has planned a number of small-scale protests in Harare’s high-density suburbs — at bus stations, police stations (quite a few were indeed attacked and there is evidence about that), and food queues — and appears ready to broaden these activities”.

And on May 19, 2003, a cable marked “secret” from the US Embassy in Harare reported to Washington that: “MDC activist Sedweak Munyaradzi Mupazviripo Munya (protect) has informed embassy officer that he had made and thrown nine petrol bombs at three different Zanu-PF meetings-in-progress on about April 25.”

Building on this apparently entrenched culture of MDC violence quietly condoned by the US government which all along has been going mad about alleged Zanu PF violence, the US Embassy staff in Harare reported to Washington on June 3, 2006, that: “MDC Secretary for Presidential Affairs (and principal aide to Party President Morgan Tsvangirai) Gandi Mudzingwa on June 1 (2006) told poloff (political officials) that the party was working closely with civil society to foment protests over the GOZ (Government of Zimbabwe) crackdown against the informal sector. Mudzingwa asserted that the party planned to stimulate urban and rural disturbances that would lay the foundation of a larger national action) possibly a ‘stay-away’) within a few weeks.

“He reported that a recent retreat in Botswana among the party leadership had reduced intra-party tensions but suggested that some friction likely remained. According to Mudzingwa, party leaders had been meeting with leaders of prominent civil society leaders nearly daily for the past week to co-ordinate strategies in response to the GOZ crackdown against ‘illegal structures’.”

A meeting later on June 1 was to have divided responsibilities among the party, churches, students, and NGOs such as the Combined Harare Residents’ Association (CHRA) and Lovemore Madhuku’s National Constitutional Assembly (NCA). The MDC’s liaison committee would be chaired by national chairman (the late) Isaac Matongo and include youth chairperson Nelson Chamisa and women’s chairperson Lucia Matibenga. The developing plan was to stimulate local disturbances that appeared to be spontaneous, and not associated with the party. The MDC would be rhetorically supportive of such activity but not take responsibility for it publicly.

“Mudzingwa asserted that overt involvement in fomenting resistance would give the GOZ a pretext to arrest the MDC leadership. Mudzingwa conceded that the party had yet to develop a plan for reaching out to the many Zimbabweans displaced by the crackdown. Most of these people had been apolitical but now represented a potential asset for the MDC.

“The party’s efforts to tap into them would likely be decentralised, with local leaders empowered to reach out to the displaced from both inside and outside MDC structures. Mudzingwa asserted that rural disturbances would keep authorities stretched thinner and open up more opportunities in the cities.”

There is more, but this is enough to make the point, namely that quietly there’s a difference of night and day between the US diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks on August 30 which, on the one hand, deal with the MDC and which, on the other hand, deal with Zanu PF.

As asserted in the foregoing, and this is categorical and thus cannot be contradicted by the public record, there’s not a single WikiLeaks cable disclosing any criminal intent against the State by any Zanu PF interlocutor covered in the cables. Yet, as empirically shown also in the foregoing and as revealed by a staggering host of cables not yet covered by the media, there’s unimpeachable evidence of criminal and treasonous MDC intent and practice to seek not leadership but illegal regime change in Zimbabwe through the use of organised and systematic violence against Zanu PF and Zimbabweans sponsored by the US government. This is very serious stuff and heads must roll without fear or favour.

In other words, the law must take its course without being distracted by the senseless preoccupation with personalities in the so-called independent Press in Zimbabwe run by the US government.

Labels: ARTHUR MUTAMBARA, JONATHAN MOYO, WIKILEAKS

posted by MrK @ 3:06 PM