WikiLeaks expose celebrity “statesmen”

As fascinating as the history and origin of WikiLeaks, so are some of the diplomatic cables that have been made public giving a fascinating view of the world of formal and some not so formal diplomacy. In the case of Zimbabwe it also gives a glimpse of extra-curricular activities that  the super rich sometimes get themselves involved in.

Intriguing is the latest scrabbling among President Robert Mugabe’s confidantes after WikiLeaks recently released a series of diplomatic cables from the American Embassy in Harare. The cables  reveal vividly and in undiluted terms their discontent with and contempt for the 87-year-old leader’s desperate clinging to power.

The cables reveal how the Who’s Who of Zanu-PF seemingly tried to outdo each other in impressing the imperialists and neo-colonialists” with their frustration with Mugabe’s unwillingness to retire and leave voluntarily.

A picture unfolds of the results flowing from an ambassadorial invitation to key functionaries to an intimate and private meal where the best food and drink is on offer.

With a full stomach and a cognac in the hand, one is prone to forget that there is no such thing as a free meal.

Even more entertaining to read is the helter-skelter of those Zanu-PF bigwigs exposed in the diplomatic dispatches to cover their tracks and the distrust and back –stabbing it caused in a  party already torn apart by factionalism.

Attempts at damage control by Zanu-PF spin doctors and demands for purges are overshadowed by opportunists exploiting the situation to curry favour with Mugabe, praise-singing him as “..our Biblical Moses. The people of Zimbabwe will forever cherish having you as their leader who led them out of the wilderness”.

Even the man entrusted with the task of directing the indigenisation policy in Zimbabwe, minister Saviour Kasukuwere, in an attempt to redeem himself after being fingered in some of the leaked cables likened President Mugabe to,” God’s Angel Gabriel”.

Not to be outdone Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu praised Mugabe by crooning that the Zimbabwean President was,”feared the world over because of his intelligence”.

“There is no president the world over who has degrees like President Mugabe. He is brainy and that’s why he is feared. You fought the liberation struggle for a long time and you should also rule for as long as you want.”

The Plan

While this little circus was still playing itself out within Zanu-PF, WikiLeaks dropped another bombshell.

It unearthed and published another scheme, put together and bankrolled by the debonair billionaire boss of the Virgin empire, Sir Richard Branson, and some other very prominent individuals.

The sensational story has in no time prompted a flurry of responses from some of those named in the story.

The leaked cable, prepared by the then American ambassador to South Africa from information he received from an unnamed source, tells how during 2007 Richard Branson and the musician Peter Gabriel jointly planned to effect regime change in Zimbabwe. It involved some highly respected elder statesmen, including former president Mandela and former UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan as well as former American President Jimmy Carter.

The short version of the plan was that President Mugabe was to have been approached by former President Nelson Mandela and a collection of other respected African figures. They would have tactfully claimed they wished to protect his legacy, and safeguard Zimbabwe's future, by organising a peaceful transition of power.

Mugabe was to be offered immunity from future prosecution, as well as the chance to appoint an interim prime minister. In return, he would co-operate with a truth and reconciliation process modelled on the South African hearings.

Sir Richard Branson was also to have offered President Mugabe US$ 10 million to “help him accept the plan”.

It should be noted that Sir Richard, although he admitted the existence of such a plan, rejected the notion that he ever offered to provide the paltry US$ 10 million to “buy” President Mugabe.  Branson insists, “It was never discussed. It would have been cheap at the price, but it just happens not to be true."

Up to this point the plan still seemed feasible but then different versions and interpretations and a confusing sequence of events caused bewilderment and the plan unravelled into a non-event.

With a plan on paper but uncertain if it was doable, Sir Richard Branson fortuitously ran into Professor Jonathan Moyoa a senior but highly controversial Zanu-PF Politburo member, at OR Tambo Airport during July 2007. They reportedly struck up a conversation which became more serious when Sir Richard told Moyo about the scheme and asked him for his opinion.

According to the self-opinionated and condescending Professor Moyo, not particularly liked in his home country by friend and foe alike, he soon became an indispensable cog in the plan to oust President Mugabe.

He not only introduced Gideon Gono, the Reserve Bank Governor of Zimbabwe,and close associate of President Mugabe to Branson, but he also told the boss of Virgin that their plan had little chance of success.

According to Moyo he told Branson that some members of the team of elders assembled to talk to President Mugabe, such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, would be unacceptable to Mugabe. Instead he suggested that the former presidents of Namibia, Zambia, Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya and Botswana should be included.

Sir Richard Branson holds a somewhat different view. He acknowledged that he met several times with Professor Moyo  and Gideon Gono but  claims that the plan fell apart when he and his colleagues began to have serious reservations about whether  Professor Moyo and his supporters were entirely suitable people with whom to “go into the business”.

His account also contradicts on some important points the version of events as described by Professor Moyo. According to Sir Richard, Professor Moyo was less important than the good professor tried to make out and it was Gono he met at OR

Tambo airport in early 2007 and not Moyo although he could not remember if Moyo was perhaps also present.

The message

In the end the plan of trying to involve a team of respected elder African statesmen to convince President Mugabe to retire peacefully and in style fizzled out as yet another ill-fated and poorly construed idea.

The message of this intriguing story is that it is perhaps better for well-meaning celebrities and wealthy business people who want to change the world to put up the money but then to step back and follow the lead of people such as George Soros and Bill Gates and leave the job to the experts and professionals.