Zanu PF want Jonathan Moyo in JOMIC

By Njabulo Ncube (Financial Gazette, Assistant Editor)

HARDLINERS in ZANU-PF are pushing for the inclusion of politburo member, Jonathan Moyo, into the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) to bolster the party’s presence in structures that form the cornerstone of the coalition government.

The acerbic Moyo is likely to replace ZANU-PF’s deputy secretary for legal affairs, Kembo Mohadi, in a move that has the potential of further poisoning relations within JOMIC, whose mandate is to oversee the operations of the troubled inclusive government, formed in February 2009.

Mohadi, the co-Minister of Home Affairs, has hardly attended JOMIC meetings as one of the four representatives of ZANU-PF. Hardliners within ZANU-PF say Mohadi’s absence has resulted in other political formations in the unity government enjoying a numerical advantage over the revolutionary party whose arguments are more and more finding less takers in the region where it used to enjoy a lot of support.

The hardliners said Moyo’s presence and intellect was particularly needed now given the upsurge in the number of issues before JOMIC.

Moyo’s planned inclusion in JOMIC is seen as part of desperate attempts by ZANU-PF to bolster its intellectual muscle in the organisation while at the same time synchronising it with the party’s propaganda campaign targeting the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union, the guarantors of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) binding the three parties in the unity government.

“They want him because he is more aggressive and will stop at nothing to fulfil their agenda to stay in power as well as get favourable outcomes from the JOMIC meetings. In any case, he understands them and has been an advocate for their plight,” said a source familiar with the goings-on in JOMIC. ZANU-PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, expressed ignorance over the issue.

Complaints from ZANU-PF that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations were abusing JOMIC by lodging frivolous complaints that were finding their way to the South African facilitators in the Zimbabwe crisis have been on the increase.

Ultimately, these complaints have ended up being discussed at SADC summits, resulting in the regional body losing its patience with ZANU-PF over its intransigence in implementing the GPA.

MDC-T secretary-general, Tendai Biti, has previously complained against biased and partisan reporting by the state-broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and the failure by ZANU-PF to implement the power-sharing pact in full.

Biti has also formally complained to JOMIC about utterances attributed to Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba that army generals would never salute the premier even if he was to be elected President of the Republic.

Qhubani Moyo, the MDC representative in JOMIC, recently courted the ire of ZANU-PF after he penned an article casting aspersions about President Robert Mugabe’s leadership, forcing ZANU-PF to write a formal letter of complaint to the Committee, once viewed as a paper tiger.

Apart from Mohadi, the other ZANU-PF representatives at JOMIC are the party’s secretary for national security, Nicholas Goche, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, and Oppah Muchinguri, the party’s Women’s League boss.

The MDC-T is represented by its deputy treasurer-general and Minister of Energy and Power Development, Elton Mangoma, secretary general and Finance Minister Biti, deputy spokesperson, Thabitha Khumalo and lawyer, Innocent Chagonda.

The MDC is represented by secretary general, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, deputy secretary general, Moses Mzila-Ndlovu, Qhubani Moyo, the party’s national organising secretary and Frank Chamunorwa, the party’s national chairperson.

Jonathan Moyo is a controversial political figure in Zimbabwe. He was information minister from 2000 to 2005 and is currently a Member of Parliament for Tsholotsho. He is considered the core architect of controversial legislation namely the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Public Order and Security Act.

Moyo came to the fore of the Zimbabwean political map during the drafting of the constitution in 2000. Once the people of Zimbabwe had rejected the draft, President Mugabe appointed the former political science lecturer to his cabinet following the 2000 parliamentary election, making him the spoke-sperson of the government and information minister.

He later expelled himself from ZANU-PF in 2008 but he bounced back with a bang about two years later.

In the mere space of 11 years, Moyo went from being a fervent critic of the government of President Mugabe to being its fiercest defender and then again to being one of its foremost critics before defending the same government again on rejoining ZANU-PF, a fact that renders him a mystery to many Zimbabweans. Financial Gazette