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(TALKZIMBABWE) Branson ‘confirms’ Moyo, Gono wanted Mugabe ousted

Branson ‘confirms’ Moyo, Gono wanted Mugabe ousted
Posted by By Our reporter at 17 October, at 11 : 06 AM

VIRGIN media mogul, Sir Richard Branson, has confirmed to a UK newspaper that there was a secret plot to oust President Robert Mugabe. The secret plan was unearthed by whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks, last week.

Sir Richard Branson was one of its ringleaders, according to The Independent newspaper, but the British billionaire has vehemently denied this week’s extraordinary claims that he once offered a £6.5m bribe to persuade the President Robert Mugabe to stand down.

The mogul told The Independent exclusively that in 2007 he orchestrated covert meetings between former information minister, Jonathan Moyo, and several African statesmen, including former South African leader, Nelson Mandela, and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.


He also made a claim that he held direct discussions with President Mugabe’s ally and Reserve Bank Governor, Dr. Gideon Gono, about removing the veteran leader.

But Sir Richard claimed that the plan, revealed this week by Wikileaks, fell apart when he and his colleagues began to have serious reservations about whether Professor Moyo and his supporters were entirely suitable people to go into the business of nation-building with.

“I was approached by the man who was mentioned in the Wikileaks, Jonathan Moyo, and listened,” he said. “Eventually, we decided not to do anything with him. We just weren’t completely sure that his was the best approach.

“We have subsequently done some things for and in Zimbabwe, on some of the issues that were discussed at those meetings, but we ultimately just felt that working with him wasn’t necessarily the right way forward.”

Sir Richard claimed that he held discussions with Dr. Gono about the possibilities of regime change.

According to Sir Richard, the scheme initially came into being because he had a chance meeting with Dr. Gono at an airport in South Africa early in 2007.

They had a short discussion at which several ideas for President Mugabe’s removal were raised, claims The Independent. Those ideas were later fleshed out via email and then elaborated in several days of face-to-face meetings which Professor Moyo, but not Dr. Gono, attended in Johannesburg in July that year.

Dr. Gono has refused to comment on WikiLeaks claims, and Zanu-PF last week warned against trusting the “opinions of US diplomats” and westerners as they are bent on regime change in Zimbabwe.


“I remember meeting Gideon Gono at an airport,” Sir Richard said. “I can’t remember whether I also met Moyo then. Maybe they were together … We did later meet [Moyo], and we did put him up in Johannesburg for a few days, but we decided not to continue with him.”

Under the plan that Dr Gono and Prof Moyo allegedly helped hatch, President Mugabe was to have been approached by Mandela and a collection of other respected figures from the region. They would have tactfully claimed they wished to protect his legacy, and safeguard Zimbabwe’s future, by organising a peaceful transition of power.

President Mugabe was to be offered immunity from future prosecution, as well as the chance to appoint an interim prime minister. In return, he would co-operate with a truth and reconciliation process modelled on South Africa.

The existence of the scheme was made public this week, when Wikileaks published a series of classified cables written by Eric Bost, the US ambassador to Pretoria. He had got his hands on several emails between Sir Richard and Prof Moyo, and was eager to outline their plan to his superiors in Washington.

Sir Richard refuted a Daily News story published on Sunday, claiming that Sir Richard had been prepared to “offer Mugabe a £6.5m incentive to stand down” as part of the plan.

That element of the story is untrue, Sir Richard told The Independent. “It was never discussed. It would have been cheap at the price, but it just happens not to be true.”

Sir Richard said he was troubled by the revelation that a US diplomat had apparently been able to get hold of sensitive private emails.

“Obviously, they must be listening in, or doing something. I have no idea how they got them. I’ve no idea how it happened,” he said.

His recollection of the affair raises questions about the public statements that Prof Moyo, who is a member of Zanu-PF’s politburo, has made this week.


On Tuesday, for example Prof Moyo told The Independent that his only meeting with Branson had come in a check-in queue at Johannesburg airport in April 2007. “We chatted for about an hour and a half,” Moyo said. “When he learned I was an MP, he was interested in my views. Mr Branson is a good man.”

Sir Richard made these statements from the Reagan Library just outside Los Angeles, where he appeared on Wednesday at a summit of Global Zero, an influential organisation of political, military, business, civic and faith leaders from around the world, who are campaigning for nuclear disarmament.

Branson: A vulture?

Last year, in an opinion piece published by this website, Sir Richard was was said to be seeking to capitalise on Zimbabwe’s recently discovered diamond wealth when he launched a charity, Enterprise Zimbabwe in New York.

Tendai Midzi suggested that the British billionaire, who has a string of investments over the border in South Africa, was attempting to “re-colonise” Zimbabwe and counter the growing influence of China in Africa.

“Zimbabwe is the new battleground for a new Cold War,” he wrote.

His comments came just days after Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC-T Prime Minister had also met with the media mogul.

Sir Richard told philanthropists at the Clinton Global Initiative forum in New York last year that the West was “wrong to wait” for Mr Mugabe’s demise before it re-engaged with Zimbabwe.

“In life, people have got to take risks. If everybody waits on the sidelines it will be the people who suffer,” he said. “The present state of politics in Zimbabwe is by no means perfect…”

Midzi questioned why Sir Richard himself had waited to invest in Zimbabwe, pointing out that he has for years had business interests in neighbouring South Africa – including Virgin Active gyms, Virgin Atlantic flights and a luxury safari lodge.

“No one would argue that had Mr Branson come to our rescue four five, ten years ago, he would have been more honourable and believable. Why now?” he wrote.

“Zimbabweans that remained in the country and busted sanctions from within will not tolerate this backdoor entry by “vultures” disguised as angels.

What has changed? Is it a realisation that there could be huge profits to be made from the vast mineral deposits in the country?

Who’s who: Main players in the alleged plot

Richard Branson The founder of the Virgin Group had the idea with his friend, Peter Gabriel, for a group based on the role of elders in traditional society to resolve disputes. They took the idea to Nelson Mandela, who helped to bring the group of global statesmen together. They include Mary Robinson, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan.

Jonathan Moyo He is said to have penned the draft document in which The Elders would tell President Mugabe it was time for him to step aside “graciously and with dignity” to allow the country to move on, according to the leaked cable. He is said to have advised Sir Richard on the people who should be invited to join The Elders.

Gideon Gono The head of Zimbabwe’s central bank. Sir Richard claims the two discussed how to get President Mugabe to leave office.

Eric Bost The former US ambassador to South Africa became an unwitting player in the drama after the dispatch he sent from Pretoria in July 2007 was made public by WikiLeaks. In his note, he says that a contact provided his mission with the emails sent between Prof Moyo and Sir Richard as well as Prof Moyo’s draft plan for the initiative. He was appointed to the post by President George W Bush in 2006 and left the country in January 2009.

The Independent/The Zimbabwe Guardian

Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, COUP, GIDEON GONO, NEOCOLONIALISM, RICHARD BRANSON, WIKILEAKS

posted by MrK @ 2:24 PM