Moyo, a political scientist and independent legislator for Tsholotsho North, announced in 2005 that he was writing his memoirs – documenting his time as an abrasive wordsmith for President Robert Mugabe’s government in which he served for five years.

Moyo’s account would have been the first by anyone with an intimate knowledge of the workings of Mugabe’s government.

But Zimbabweans will have to wait much longer to read Moyo’s reflections, which he still intends to write.

“I got a kind of historical reminder from Lenin who was writing a book about the Russian Revolution and decided to permanently abandon it in favour of participating in the revolution,” Moyo said.

“In 2005, shortly after I started writing the book, and indeed, as I focused on the subject, I was reminded of the Leninist truism that it is better to participate in a revolution than to write about it.

“I took a decision that I should remain in politics rather than write about it. I have remained an active participant on the political landscape, at the very least as a Member of Parliament, and that is a basic forum for participating in our national politics.”

Moyo said Zimbabwe was “clearly going through a revolution”.

“Zimbabwe’s major political actors have defined what they are doing as revolutionary, certainly Zanu PF, while the others have called it change. Whether you are conservative and liberal and speak of change, or a nationalist and talk of revolution, no-one can deny the fact that Zimbabwe has been gripped by a revolution. Would I rather write a book, or be part of this? Of course I would choose to be part of the revolution!”

Moyo left government after he was linked to an alleged plot to oust the top Zanu PF leadership. After a two-hour meeting with Mugabe and Vice President Joice Mujuru at which he was persuaded to stay, Moyo defied Zanu PF and filed nomination papers to stand as an independent in Tsholotsho -- effectively expelling himself from the party. He trounced both Zanu PF and the MDC to win the seat.

Moyo added: “I really wanted to write the book. But it was not a wise thing to do at this time. It was about my lived experience, and experience is not something you do alone, and politics is not about your own life but public interaction with others.

“It did not seem right to me that I would start writing about these others and still hope to participate in the revolution with them, they would have seen me not as a participant but a researcher simply gathering information in order to publicise it.