Charamba leaked Talks Documents to The Herald
In what could be mounting evidence that key people close to Mugabe could be scuttling talks with the MDC, a herald staffer has revealed that the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information George Charamba gave the state paper the highly sensitive talks documents to publish.
‘We were surprised when Charamba gave us the documents way before the talks were concluded on Tuesday afternoon,and specifically told the headline should read ‘ New dawn:Deal sealed’, we published some of the document contents the following day’,the source revealed.
‘At first we thought indeed a deal has been reached,but Charamba called us back with specific instructions on what the story should say’, added the source
On Wednesday The Herald published the documents under the headline:Tsvangirai U-Turn : The facts,in which it claimed that MDC negotiators Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma were authorised to sign 13 agreements.
The paper went on to list the agreements among them the issue of sanctions,it said;
‘On the 25th of July, Tsvangirai agreed that sanctions were not targeted and the Western economic embargo was hurting the nation and should be lifted as a matter of urgency.
“All forms of measures and sanctions against Zimbabwe (must) be lifted in order to facilitate a sustainable solution to the challenges that are currently facing Zimbabwe.”
The Herald claims however contradict with what MDC National Chairman,Lovemore Moyo , who was also part of the expanded negotiating team said, Moyo said the MDC flatly refused at the talks to speak out against a targeted travel ban on Mugabe and some senior ZANU PF members.
“The document we signed was clear that we refused responsibility for calling off the sanctions and clearly stated that it was not us who said Zanu PF supporters should beat up and rape people,” Moyo said.
There is mounting evidence that George Charamba could be scuttling talks,on the same day Charamba ordered the arrest of MDC media support staffer Andrew Chadwick at the Rainbow towers.
Last week in his weekly column “Nathaniel Manheru”,Charamba accused him of leaking a document to The Star last week which outlined the talks proposal and he called him a ‘rapist of truth’.
The MDC has since accused Charamba of violating the MOU agreement several times by using hate language.
In his infamous column in the state newspaper The Herald Charamba implied that MDC leader,Morgan Tsvangirai was half human.
“…the current talks involve a political Minotaur (a part human and part bull creature) shaped and disfigured..’, wrote Charamba
The vilification prompted an MDC official who requested anonymity to lash out,’These are the same people we are talking to so as to find a common solution to our nation ’s problems,yet Charamba continues to use this kind of language. How do they expect to work with us if they don’t respect our leader?’,he asked.
“There are some in our (MDC) party who are treating these talks with utmost scepticism knowing ZANU PF’s solid history of insincerity,the ongoing violence,intimidation,NGO ban and Charamba’s language, these things just serve to harden their positions.”, the official a newly elected Member of Parliament said.
“When the talks broke off on Tuesday, it became clear that not everyone in Zanu-PF wants the deal,” another well-placed source said yesterday.
“The leak of negotiating documents to the state press . . . is another indication. The documents were leaked by a member of the cabinet. We also expect violence.”
Charamba belongs to the Mnagagwa faction and was major player in the ill-fated Ndiyane plot in December 2004 which was meant to catapult Mnagagwa to the vice presidency, Charamba drafted a speech for Mnangagwa for the event and hired a plane for the meeting.
The Mnagagwa faction is reportedly strongly opposed to any meaningful power sharing deal and is in favour of a cosmetic deal through accommodating a willing partner, the Mutambara faction. Already almost all 10 Mutambara faction MPs have been approached by the faction,some using close friends.
About twenty MDC-Tsvangirai MPs have already been approached by the faction,including a a female MP from Bulawayo and was offered a bribe. The legislator told SW Radio Africa she was offered government tenders for her business and a car, if she voted for a speaker of parliament from the Mnangagwa faction of ZANU PF.
Posted by Special Investigations Unit
on August 16, 2008. Filed under Tondi's Blog on all things Zimbabwean.
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