This information was contained in a previously unreleased diplomatic cable from the office of former US Ambassador Christopher Dell in 2007. The cable shows that Moyo was discussing secret ZANU PF information with the Americans, including ZANU PF’s anger that Mugabe was hanging onto power, despite his failing health and loss of public support.
Read Cable:
http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=07HARARE270&q=jonathan%20moyo
The cable also details that Moyo gave the former US Ambassador some advice on how the Americans could oust Mugabe from power, saying that “a ZANU PF party led by Mugabe was likely to lose any election.”
“Moyo urged the US to send positive signals about post-Mugabe future as this could help convince many party stalwarts to abandon Mugabe,” reads part of the cable.
According to the cable, Moyo also advised the Americans that an exit package, which included immunity from prosecution and other international guarantees for his safety, “could help persuade Mugabe to go.”
“He (Moyo) added that the example of Charles Taylor’s expulsion from Nigeria and subsequent delivery to The Hague Special Court was particularly worrying for Mugabe, who had told (Emmerson) Mnangagwa that he feared being hung,” Dell wrote after the March 2007 meeting with Moyo.
WikiLeaks has meanwhile also released an older cable from 2001, when Moyo was Mugabe’s Information Minister, which shows another side to Moyo’s changing political mask. The cable, dated March 2001, details a meeting at the US Embassy with the recently fired editor of the state’s mouthpiece Herald newspaper. Former editor Ray Mungoshi, who was fired by Moyo, explained to the Americans that the then Information Minister “planted false stories” in the newspaper, using it for propaganda.
Read Cable:
http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=01HARARE1177&q=mungoshi%20ray
Moyo, often described as a “political prostitute”, has swung from being a top ZANU PF official, to a harsh Mugabe critic, and back to a vocal party cheerleader over the last decade. The WikiLeaks details have now come as little surprise to many observers, who have said that the information underlines the extent of Moyo’s serial ‘flip-flopping’.
Political commentator Phillip Pasirayi told SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that Moyo’s hypocrisy has been clearly exposed, but he said this would not change how ZANU PF “uses him.”
“Jonathan Moyo is an opportunist, but ZANU PF will continue to use him because of this. They will use him for propaganda, and for the hate language he uses against the MDC,” Pasirayi said. – Alex Bell
Post published in: News