Mugabe's ex-propaganda chief to write memoirs

Mugabe's ex-propaganda chief to write memoirs

MOYO: Spoke to New Zimbabwe.com for first time in two years

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• Moyo warns Zanu PF may lose poll

• Mugabe says Moyo plotted coup

• MDC, Zanu PF take on Moyo in Tsholotsho

• Moyo vacates government house, moves to Byo

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• Moyo launches major push for Tsholotsho

• Moyo's new coalition to challenge Mugabe

• High Court gives Moyo 2 weeks to vacate

• Mugabe's former spin doctor battles eviction

• Tawanda Hove: 'No tears for Moyo'

• Tamborinyoka: 'Let Moyo stew in his unpublished views'

• Your Shouts!: Moyo a hero? Are crazy?

• OPINION: 'Moyo just a village hero'

• ADMORE TSHUMA: Jonathan Moyo, my hero

• PROFILE: JONATHAN NATHANIEL MOYO

• Moyo angers ex-Cabinet colleagues with tribal slur

• Full text of Moyo's reply to dismissal from government

• Moyo slams Zanu PF 'politics of patronage'

• Mugabe drops Moyo from Cabinet

• Mugabe's spin doctor quits, goes independent

• Msika snubs Moyo's Tsholotsho plea

• Moyo bombshell: Gukurahundi killed my dad

• Matsanga delights in Moyo's misfortunes

• Moyo sues Dabengwa, Nkomo for $2bln

• Zanu PF lifts Langa, Ncube's suspension

• Moyo: 'Tsholotsho will hold Nkomo to account'

• Moyo lays into Nkomo, Dabengwa as Zanu PF stalls on Tsholotsho

By Mduduzi Mathuthu

PROFESSOR Jonathan Moyo, the mercurial former propaganda chief for President Robert Mugabe is putting pen to paper to write his memoirs about life as the 81-year-old despot's spokesman, New Zimbabwe.com can reveal.

In an exclusive interview with New Zimbabwe.com, Moyo also reveals he will never rejoin Zanu PF. He warns the ruling party is headed for disintegration within the next 36 months.

He blasted: "The seeds of disintegration were sown for Zanu PF during congress in November last year, they will be germinated in the parliamentary elections and harvested at the presidential elections."

Moyo is largely tipped to win the Tsholotsho parliamentary election today after being thrown out of government and Zanu PF amid a storm over allegations of plotting a coup aimed at Mugabe and his deputy Joyce Mujuru.

Speaking for the first time to New Zimbabwe.com after a TWO year snub, Moyo said he was confident he would finish his memoirs about his five years as Mugabe's image maker within the next six months.

"My experiences in government certainly do require something like that (memoirs)," he said in response to a direct question. "There are so many questions, so many things that people want answers to, and to just quit and do nothing would be unfair."

The book could fetch millions and become a best seller, according to industry experts. Moyo is credited with drawing-up anti-press laws and other draconian legislation to defend Mugabe's hold on power for the past five years. Opponents also accuse him of shutting down independent papers, a charge he rejects.

Asked if he was not concerned about possible arrest from a fearful regime eager to guard its secrets, Moyo retorted: "If I am jailed, I will write the book from behind bars."

Moyo also used the interview to take a dig at President Mugabe, saying Zanu PF was going into today's election "confused and lacking strategy". He said the opposition Movement for Democratic Change had organised bigger crowds at their rallies, and warned of a major upset.

"(Morgan) Tsvangirai addressed over 20 000 people at White City Stadium and Mugabe had two star rallies at two schools. Now, if you see a head of a party like Zanu PF and President of a country being reduced to holding rallies within the perimeter of a school, almost like a secret society, that is worrisome," said Moyo.

Moyo said Zanu PF had undergone "a radical retreat to its old self" and was "constantly at war with itself". He said the party had excluded all but one tribal group from its ranks -- the Zezuru's.

"They have no coherent message. The anti-Blair campaign hasn't worked. The other slogan about Zimbabwe never being a colony again worked during the land resettlement programme, but it has now become moribund and unappealing. The MDC, for its part, has largely benefited from an on-going protest because they are the only alternative.

"The MDC could get a simple majority in this election for the 120 contested seats. While constitutionally that is inconsequential, it will dramatise the defects of the Zimbabwean constitution creating a crisis of legitimacy, which will be real this time, not their claims of 2002.

"If the MDC got a majority of the seats, that would really be deadly for Mugabe. It would also be very dangerous for Zanu PF which will certainly be doomed after that."

Moyo said when he joined Zanu PF in 2000, there were signs the party was ready to embrace democracy. He said the real test for this resolve came at the party's national congress last November where Joyce Mujuru was elevated to Vice President, becoming the first woman to hold the post in the country's history. This followed a directive by Mugabe, against the Zanu PF constitution, directing that one of the two vice presidents should be a woman.

"The party squandered an opporunity to embrace democracy. Instead, it mutated into a monster like UNIP, Kanu of Kenya and the Malawi Congress Party. That opportunity will never come for Zanu PF and it is now certainly headed for doom.

"The next 36 months are crucial for Zanu PF because if Mugabe seeks re-election, which I doubt he will, he will certainly lose. If he does get someone to succeed him, that person will find it absolutely impossible to win," Moyo said.

The 48-year-old political scientist and former university lecturer also rejected claims that he was going to rejoin Zanu PF.

"Zanu PF dug its own grave in November, and they have fallen into it. Only a foolish person will walk into that grave, and I am not. Besides, this idea that I can win an election and then walk back to Zanu PF is baseless because the constitution is clear that if you want to cross the floor, even if you are an independent, the electorate has to be consulted," Moyo said.
DON'T MISS TOMORROW: MOYO ON HIS POLITICAL CAREER AFTER THE ELECTIONS
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