Moyo quizzed on BBC HARDtalk

Moyo quizzed on BBC HARDtalk

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By Staff Reporter

PROFESSOR Jonathan Moyo, Zimbabwe's controversial former Information Minister who famously banned the BBC from the country faced an intense grilling from the corporation's HARDtalk programme this week.

Moyo flew to Johannesburg, South Africa, to face the BBC's top inquisitor, Steven Sackur, five years after he caused a storm by expelling the corporation's Zimbabwean correspondent, Joseph Winter.

The BBC says its HARDtalk programme has gained a reputation around the globe "for asking the questions from which others shy away."

"Sackur will probe those individuals who are setting the international news agenda, from politicians and strategists to business leaders and campaigners," the BBC says on the HARDtalk website.

The two-part interview began showing on BBC News 24 and BBC World Service early Wednesday, and was expected to be repeated across the day. The second part of the interview will be aired on Thursday evening.

Mugabe's acerbic former spin doctor is quizzed on the programme about his shenanigans at the Ford Foundation, and asked if he joined Zanu PF "for money".

The BBC's former Zimbabwe correspondent Joseph Winter left the country in February 2001, and Moyo declared the BBC banned from Zimbabwe in July of that year, sparking a volley of international criticism.

In a letter to the BBC's Johannesburg Bureau Chief, Miton Nkosi, at the time, Moyo accused the BBC's Rageh Omaar of misrepresenting President Robert Mugabe's speech at the opening of Parliament.

Moyo wrote in his letter: "The time has come for the BBC to follow and uphold in Zimbabwe the same professional and ethical standards it follows in Britain. That is the bottom line, nothing less or more.

"To my utter shock and disappointment, Omaar alleged in his report that President Mugabe...'vowed to continue with the forcible acquisition of white farmland...' or something to that effect. These words were nowhere near the President's speech."

Moyo, often accused of leading a clampdown against private newspapers, left government in February 2005 after declaring his intention to stand as an independent in parliamentary elections, defying Mugabe who strongly advised him against the move.

Moyo's star in Zanu PF began waning in late 2004 when he was accused of plotting Mugabe's ouster, although he denies this to this day.

Moyo insists a meeting in Zimbabwe's south western district of Tsholotsho at which the palace coup is said to have been plotted was just a school prize giving day, although he is clear that he opposed Joice Mujuru campaign for Vice President.

Visit the BBC HARDtalk web page: CLICK HERE

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