In siNdebele, okungapheliyo kuya hlola. The Shona equivalent is that chisinga peri chinoshura. That is what is at play here.

For the record, and for the sake of perspective, I was not in government when these allegations were first made in April 2000 and there was no indication whatsoever at that time that I would end up appointed a cabinet minister in July of the same year following the June 2000 parliamentary elections.

Even more crucial is the fact that when the allegations were first made in April 2000 by the same people who are making them now, my family and I were still resident in South Africa. After I was appointed minister in July 2000, my family remained resident in South Africa until January 2001.

Surely, if Moeletsi Mbeki or Wits University had a genuine and serious legal case against me, they would have pursued that case when I was still resident in South Africa in April 2000 or when my family was still resident there up to January 2001. There was ample and material opportunity at that time when the allegations first surfaced to use the law to recover any legitimate claim without political fanfare or innuendo.

But nothing of the sort happened because the matter was not and has never been about any legitimate claim against me in terms of the law but merely a smear campaign for cheap political purposes from people of challenged abilities.

If anyone cares to check the record since these allegations first surfaced in April 2000, they will notice that whenever I do something that flat foots or simply ruffles the feathers of my political opponents particularly in some opposition circles, the allegations resurface.

It is therefore no surprise to me at all that this time the resurfacing of the allegations has been triggered by my appearance on a two-part HARDtalk BBC programme that was recorded in South Africa last month on September 18. I am aware that some elements in both the opposition and ruling Zanu PF were not happy not only with some of the things I said on that programme but also with the mere fact that I appeared on the programme.

To these elements, the BBC is a big deal and the fact that I had an appearance on the BBC consuming two parts of HARDtalk has been much too much for a politician whom these elements wish was wallowing in oblivion. Predictably, the response has been to kick up all kinds of dust including cowardly bringing back useless and utterly false allegations that have been around since April 2000 without being pursued in any court of law.

That is why the whole episode is farcical.

The heading of this thread (read) bombastically proclaims: "Jonathan Moyo Indicted for Fraud!" yet there is not a single word let alone a sentence in the founding article that refers to my alleged indictment in or by any court of law. There's simply no indictment. None.

The alleged indictment is firmly resident and locked in the minds of the very same people who are making or peddling the allegations as if they are a law or a court unto themselves. The fact that these people wish there was an indictment does not mean there is any or that there would ever be any. Wishful thinking is just that.

At the beginning of the founding article, there's a claim that Moeletsi Mbeki and Wits "have separately applied for an order" to have me arrested the next time I am in South Africa but there's no mention of the court that received the alleged application. In any case, if there's indeed an application it's lodging does not constitute an indictment.

And is it not interesting that this alleged action by Moeletsi and Wits has been inspired by my appearance on the BBC from South Africa? Last year in July I appeared on E-TV's Third Degree that was recorded in Johannesburg but apparently that was not a big deal enough to prompt Moeletsi and Wits into action. They had to wait for the BBC appearance!

What is revealing though is that, in the same article used to found this thread, some Wits official is quoted as allegedly saying "the case is unresolved and currently with the lawyers". But there is a world of difference between having a matter with the lawyers and applying for an arrest order.

The people making and peddling these allegations may be fools but they should not think that we are all fools like them. In any event, even fools know that fraud is a criminal offense and this is the position throughout the civilised world. Where there is an allegation of fraud, the matter is reported to the Police and not taken to lawyers or stupid tabloids. Period.

You go to your lawyers to lodge a complaint with the courts only if the matter is of a civil nature. If it is criminal, you report to the police and, if there is a prima facie case, it is up to the police to open a docket and carry out the necessary investigations including effecting an arrest and referring the matter to prosecuting authorities if that is warranted. The process is as simple as that.

Moeletsi Mbeki has a famous surname but that does not make him a policeman, prosecutor or court.

To use stupid tabloids that are worse than toilet paper over a period of seven years to claim that Jonathan Moyo committed fraud, and is about to be arrested, each time Jonathan Moyo does something that politically flat foots you is childish and a total waste of time. The better thing to do is to grow up and get real. Otherwise, it is very tough out there.

Before leaving this matter, I wish to take this opportunity to comment on Moeletsi Mbeki and on the research project that I did at Wits.

I find myself having to agree with Dr. Snuki Zikalala, the head of SABC News, that Moeletsi Mbeki does not have useful contributions of an analytical nature worthy of public broadcasting. He is very lucky to be a Mbeki and that surname is all he has.

The article that triggered this thread says Moeletsi Mbeki has applied for an order for my arrest. If so, in what capacity? The article claims he has done so on behalf of Endemol. That is hogwash. Is Moeletsi Endemol?

Endemol is an international media organization that is very procedural and professional. It has reputable lawyers and experienced staff including a CEO. If there is an issue here, surely it should be pursued by Endemol lawyers in a procedural manner and not by Moeletsi Mbeki. I could say more but I wont for now lest there is a next time to deal with.

However, one thing I should say now is that I never ever entered into any contract to produce any documentary for or with Endemol. Never. I do not owe anybody any documentary. If there was such a contract to produce a documentary, and if I had failed to perform on that contract, Endemol would have taken the appropriate action ages ago. That is a fact.

Another fact is that I never ever got a cent from Endemol, not even one rand for my use either professionally or personally. This talk that I invoiced Endemol R100,000 is pure fiction. There is no such invoice.

One day, those who care about facts will find out that Endemol South Africa had a huge interest to participate as the production house of a multimedia project on Africa's future that I created and wrote called, GENERATIONS: The Making of a New Africa. This project was to be produced under the auspices of SABC, and not Endemol. I repeat, it was supposed to be done with SABC, not Endemol and Moeletsi know this.

In order to stake its own interest in the project, Endemol paid for two air tickets and accommodation for two African Americans with multimedia experience based in Los Angeles who came to South Africa in 1998 to participate in a workshop at SABC on the project that I had designed. Endemol dealt directly with those African Americans. If the travel and accommodation of the two African-Americans cost R100,000.00 in 1998, that would be news to me and nothing more.

Had SABC proceed with the production of the project, the two African Americans would have played key roles in the production and through them Endemol was going to stake a huge interest in the production.

That is the only payment that Endemol did out of its own self-interest and not as a result of any invoice from or by me. If it is true that Moeletsi now want me to reimburse him the money that Endemol used to pay for the two African Americans, then he is a fool and I would love to meet him in a court of law away from his favourite stupid tabloids.

There is something else. One of the few individuals who personally benefited financially from the Generations project is in fact Moeletsi Mbeki himself. He was regularly paid through Wits but from project funds a consultant fee, even though he never produced a single report. The records at Wits and with me are there to show that Moeletsi was paid handsomely by the project that I created, led and owned. I honestly hope that he declared the payments made to him to Endemol whom he is allegedly now speaking for. I also hope there was no conflict in him accepting payments from the project through Wits while also claiming to represent Endemol who should have received the payment.

Another thing, there never was a R100m research grant. That claim is shamelessly fictitious. I wrote a proposal for R100m to do an Africa wide multimedia project similar to Ali Mazrui's The Africans but that proposal was never funded by anyone. The reason the project did not takeoff is simply because I could not secure funding for it. It was one thing for me to write a proposal with a budget of a R100m and quite another thing to have a research grant for R100m. A wish is one thing, and reality another.

Therefore claims that I took part of a R100m research grant are not only false and malicious but they are also very silly and most unfortunate in so far as they are attributed to people who should know better. How could I have taken part of nothing when we all know that a fraction of nothing is nothing?

The research project in question was mine. Let me say it again in a different way. The research project in question belonged to me as my intellectual property. I was the owner of the project. Not Wits and not anyone else and certainly not Endemol. My major partners in the execution of the project were SABC (quite pivotal), the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Dar es Saalam. Wits was my operational base only and only on condition that I raised my own funds for the project, which I did. Wits did not participate in the project's fundraising at all. Professor Tom Lodge, the former head of political science at Wits knows all this.

Although the main project that would have cost some R100m did not happen because not even a cent was secured for it, I am glad that the design part of the project was done and done very well during the project's planning phase. That phase of the project, the design work, was funded by SAREC, A Swedish agency with links to SIDA through a modest grant not even worth writing home about although it was significant from an output point of view.

The outputs of the planning phase were: (1) a detailed technical project proposal which was done very well. SABC, Endemol and Wits, among others, have that very professional document that was prepared and submitted by me; and (2) an occasional paper entitled, "GENERATIONAL SHIFTS IN AFRICAN POLITICS: Prospects for a New Africa" authored by me and published in 1998 by the James Smoot Coleman African Studies Center at UCLA in California. Incidentally, for all his alleged ungrateful conduct, Moeletsi Mbeki is among the few people who are acknowledged in this publication.

Finally, this thread and its founding article have reminded me that it is indeed true that empty vessels make the most noise.

Professor Jonathan Moyo is a former Information Minister and independent MP for Tsholotsho. He can be contacted at: moyoz@mweb.co.zw