Mugabe says Zanu PF will probe WikiLeaks

By Never Kadungure

Former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, Vice President Joice Mujuru, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono and Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi could all be high profile casualties after President Robert Mugabe hinted Zanu PF will investigate sensational WikiLeaks revelations.

The party has been rocked by leaked diplomatic cables suggesting that senior Zanu PF officials had meetings with US diplomats in Harare in which they leaked secret party information and in most cases plotted to remove Robert Mugabe as President. Zanu-PF, for the first time, discussed the WikiLeaks revelations at its Central Committee meeting last Thursday.

Party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo on Tuesday confirmed the matter was discussed. “It is true that the issue of WikiLeaks was discussed by the Central Committee. The President was very clear that as a party we are looking into the matter to establish the origins and authenticity of the statements regarding what WikiLeaks revealed,” Gumbo said.

Gumbo said Mugabe emphasised that they will wait until the results of the probe were revealed.

“The President said the nation has to wait until we examine the permutations of the WikiLeaks revelations. At the present moment newspapers, particularly the private media tend to extract what they think will suit their marketing strategies and not what was originally said,” Gumbo claimed.

Zanu-PF discussed the WikiLeaks expose after a motion on the subject was moved by a Central Committee Member from Manicaland Province, Mandi Chimene. “We are going to be much stronger. Right now we are making the necessary preparations for our National People’s Conference and they are going on very well. We are quite united in what we are going to do,” Gumbo said.

Last week, Gumbo said Zanu-PF had a long liberation history and would not be affected by WikiLeaks revelations. “This is a party with a long history. When we went to the struggle, there were conflicts and some people were even killed. We are tapping into that experience to deal with WikiLeaks. I can assure you we cannot be divided,” he said.

Behind the bravado however, Zanu PF is in a mess and heavily divided by the WikiLeaks revelations. Chief strategist Jonathan Moyo was exposed as having plotted to oust Mugabe with help from UK billionaire Richard Branson. The serial political flip flopper also requested several meetings with US diplomats at which he leaked sensitive party information.

Central Bank governor Gideon Gono meanwhile disclosed secret details about Mugabe’s health claiming he had prostate cancer and doctors had told him to quit active politics or the disease would kill him by 2013. “Gono said Mugabe was physically weak and despite a strong public face, he had difficulty getting out of his chair.”

The secret cables also showed that Gono harboured political ambitions and wanted Mugabe to leave office. He leaked confidential information given to him by the First Lady Grace Mugabe who told him Mugabe was “out of it about 75 percent of the time”.

Gono revealed Grace’s anxiety to the former US ambassador Christopher Dell during a private meeting held in his spacious 22nd floor office at the Reserve Bank HQ in February 2006, according to a “confidential” cable released by WikiLeaks.

“The Governor confided that Mugabe appeared to be deteriorating mentally and losing his capacity to balance factional interests,” Dell wrote in his report following the meeting. “He (Gono) said that Mugabe’s wife had confided to him that the President was ‘out of it’ about 75 percent of the time and she wanted him to step down.”

Mugabe has been debating what sort of action to take over the WikiLeaks fiasco with earlier indications being that he wanted to approach next year’s national elections with a united party and would not rock the boat. It now appears he has had a change of heart and the hardliners itching for action might have won him over to take action.