By Moses Matenga
MDC-T leader, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, has slammed Zanu PF apologists calling for his resignation and prosecution over WikiLeaks reports, describing them as “barbarians” who “should have their heads examined”.
The Premier on Tuesday said the former ruling party apologists accusing him of treason were a desperate lot seeking to malign a legitimately elected leader of Zimbabwe.
“The mischievous and barbaric calls for the prosecution of the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe over the WikiLeaks reports represent desperate acts by those whom the people unequivocally rejected in March 2008,” said the PM’s spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka, in a statement on Tuesday.
“Zimbabweans are not worried about what the US embassy in Harare cabled to Washington. They are only aware of their strong opinion which they cabled from the various polling stations in March 2008 entrusting their hope and faith in the person of Morgan Tsvangirai.”
Tsvangirai recently said he was not bothered by the WikiLeaks reports describing him as an indecisive leader and have linked him to conversations with US officials where sanctions and the removal of President Robert Mugabe from power were discussed. Zanu PF has taken the matter to its politburo, its supreme decision-making body outside congress.
Tsvangirai however said Zanu PF could not choose to believe one side of the WikiLeaks dispatches and ignore the other disclosures implicating Zanu PF-linked people in diamond looting, among other things.
Jonathan Moyo, a Zanu PF Central Committee member, pro-Zanu PF commentator and former MDC-M executive member Gabriel Chaibva, Mashonaland Central governor Martin Dinha and other Zanu PF apologists have called for Tsvangirai’s prosecution. But MDC-T spokesperson Nelson Chamisa dismissed Moyo and the other analysts as “certifiable idiots”.
Constitutional law expert Lovemore Madhuku on Monday said what Moyo and other Zanu PF activists were calling for was “absurd” and “not feasible”.
“Tsvangirai’s status has grown beyond cheap politics. Popular politicians like Tsvangirai are not charged for that because it will translate into politics. Any case against him will be seen as a political issue that needs a political solution,” he said. “There is nothing new in this WikiLeaks as it has been said before and the call by Moyo that Tsvangirai should be prosecuted is absurd.”
“You cannot wish prosecution of the Prime Minister on the basis of the WikiLeaks report while ignoring those named in the same report as the chief culprits in the illegal mining and sale of the diamonds in Chiadzwa. Those are serious allegations deserving an inquiry.”
In fact, said Tsvangirai, Zimbabweans would be more interested to see people that have openly said the ballot box could not be used to change what the war of liberation had achieved, giving power to Zanu PF.
“Those calling for his prosecution over the alleged WikiLeaks reports should have their heads examined. It would have made sense for them to call for the prosecution of perpetrators of violence and those who have recently uttered treasonous statements to the effect that Zimbabweans should not exercise their democratic right to use the pen to elect their government through a free and fair election. Now that is treason!”
The statement described Tsvangirai as “the embodiment of hope and real change in Zimbabwe”, saying it was their wishful thinking to plan to remove him from Zimbabwe’s political playing field. “He (Tsvangirai) will not be bothered by the delusional wishes of those seeking to malign the legitimate people’s representatives in this coalition government,” Tambarinyoka said.
Tsvangirai’s spokesperson said anybody seeking justice would demand first, the publication of the results of commissions of inquiry on land ownership and also on the Gukurahundi atrocities.
“Before anyone dreams about a Commission of Inquiry on the Prime Minister, they should first give us the results of the Utete Commission on multiple farm owners and the Chihambakwe Commission on the atrocities in Matabeleland, which reports have never been made public,” the statement reads.
The Institute for Security Studies (ISS), headquartered in Pretoria, South Africa, has warned of growing tensions among the country’s political leaders saying the leaking of United States government secrets about Zimbabwe was “dangerous” for the region, and could lead to instability and violence ahead of the possible election next year.
“For southern Africa, the WikiLeaks Zimbabwe revelations are most significant, and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say they could destabilise Zimbabwe,” said Liesl Louw-Vaudran of the ISS.
WikiLeaks recently began publishing thousands of previously confidential communications between the US State Department in Washington, DC and the country’s around the world. NewsDay
