DEFENCE Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa thought the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act was a bad law, and “voiced disdain” for former Cabinet colleague Jonathan Moyo in meetings with American diplomats, it has been revealed.
Mnangagwa also found attempts by his Zanu PF government to ban foreign funding of NGO voter education “illogical”, according to the former United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Joseph Sullivan.
Revelations of how Mnangagwa privately-opposed Zanu PF’s legislative agenda in meetings with American diplomats come as the party’s secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa called on the party this week to deal with what he called “sell-outs”.
President Robert Mugabe is said to be privately seething after the whistleblower website, WikiLeaks, released thousands of American embassy cables showing how his senior aides and ministers were briefing against him to United States diplomats.
“The issue of WikiLeaks has become a major challenge for the party,” admitted Mutasa. “Those that are implicated should go through the normal disciplinary procedures of the party and if anyone is found guilty of having sold out, he or she should be punished accordingly like everyone else. There should be no selective application of the law.”
But with virtually all major power brokers in Zanu PF including Vice Presidents Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo implicated, political commentators say Mugabe cannot take action without risking the unity of the party.
A December 21, 2001, diplomatic cable reveals how Mnangagwa, then the Speaker of Parliament, met US ambassador Joseph Sullivan to discuss three controversial bills that were before parliament at the time – the Public Order and Security Bill; Electoral Act Amendments and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill.
The legislative changes followed watershed elections in 2000 when the opposition MDC made serious electoral inroads, and Zanu PF strategists were eager to use legal instruments to check its march.
The Electoral Act Amendments would define procedures and codes of conduct governing domestic election monitors and foreign election observers; restrict voter education to the Electoral Supervisory Commission; give the Registrar General greater powers to amend the voters’ roll; restrict absentee ballots to members of diplomatic corps and military and restrict the placement of political posters.
The Information Bill, sponsored by Information Minister Moyo, required newspapers and journalists to register with a government-appointed commission and restricted the operations of foreign journalists.
“Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa told the ambassador December 21 that the Zanu PF caucus had not gone along with an alteration in electoral amendments to permit NGO election monitors alongside public servants,” wrote Ambassador Sullivan.
“He indicated, as well, that he hoped the so called ‘Access to Information’ Bill would never be passed and voiced his disdain for Information Minister Jonathan Moyo. Mnangagwa also promised to explore additional areas of concern expressed by the ambassador: political violence and intimidation, the ‘illogical’ prohibition of foreign funding of NGO voter education, and the possibility of finding a consensus candidate with the MDC or the Speaker’s nominees to the Electoral Supervisory Commission.”
Revelations of Mnangagwa’s intense dislike for Moyo would be personally embarrassing to the Defence Minister. Other diplomatic cables show that by late 2005, the two men had become strong political allies and mooted a breakaway opposition party – a year after they were rumbled while plotting a Zanu PF leadership change under the guise of a prize-giving ceremony at a school in Tsholotsho.