PM in trouble over WikiLeaks
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai faces arrest over WikiLeaks disclosures after Attorney-General Johannes Tomana said anyone who violated the law would be taken into custody, regardless of their political status.
Findings of the probe team to establish whether or not there was a conspiracy to undermine national security or commit treason when Tsvangirai met United States diplomats, have been submitted, and Tomana said he was studying the report, with a view to prosecuting the politicians fingered in the WikiLeaks report.
Although the probe remained a secret, Tomana said some of the crucial issues the probe team looked at were the sanctions issue.
The alleged discussions were leaked by whistleblower website WikiLeaks last year.
Observers warned the move could be meant to lock up the MDC-T leadership on accusations of plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe’s government with the assistance of US intelligence.
“The report is with me. It will help me form an opinion,” Tomana told NewsDay.
Tomana said if anyone was in violation of the law they would be arrested, regardless of their political status.
He, however, refused to identify members of the legal team, saying: “The committee will remain anonymous because it’s an interim report.”
However, MDC-T spokesperson Nelson Chamisa dismissed the report, saying: “We have better things to comment on than commenting on gossip, hearsay, whispers and Wiki Lies. There is no basis at all.”
Chamisa said the alleged investigation was predetermined to achieve sinister motives.
“When a leopard wants to eat its cubs, it first accuses them of smelling like goats,” Chamisa said.
“When there is a determination, there is little that can be done to stop that determination. Our country cannot be built on the foundation of acrimonious and destructive politics.”
WikiLeaks in November last year published a cache of secret diplomatic cables dispatched from US embassies worldwide to the State Department in Washington.
The documents quoted several Zimbabweans in secret conversations with US embassy officials in Harare.
In one of the cables released by WikiLeaks, Tsvangirai and other leaders in his MDC-T allegedly suggested the US should contribute to a fund to buy off security service chiefs in order to bring about regime change in Zimbabwe.
In another cable, a senior Zanu PF official identified as Mudarikwa was said to have told US ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray that his party “was holding together because of the threat of MDC-T and foreign pressure”.
Tomana told journalists last year: “The WikiLeaks appear to show a treasonous collusion between local Zimbabweans and the aggressive international world, particularly the United States.”
Although the probe remained a secret, Tomana said some of the crucial issues the probe team looked at were the sanctions issue.
The alleged discussions were leaked by whistleblower website WikiLeaks last year.
Observers warned the move could be meant to lock up the MDC-T leadership on accusations of plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe’s government with the assistance of US intelligence.
“The report is with me. It will help me form an opinion,” Tomana told NewsDay.
Tomana said if anyone was in violation of the law they would be arrested, regardless of their political status.
He, however, refused to identify members of the legal team, saying: “The committee will remain anonymous because it’s an interim report.”
However, MDC-T spokesperson Nelson Chamisa dismissed the report, saying: “We have better things to comment on than commenting on gossip, hearsay, whispers and Wiki Lies. There is no basis at all.”
Chamisa said the alleged investigation was predetermined to achieve sinister motives.
“When a leopard wants to eat its cubs, it first accuses them of smelling like goats,” Chamisa said.
“When there is a determination, there is little that can be done to stop that determination. Our country cannot be built on the foundation of acrimonious and destructive politics.”
WikiLeaks in November last year published a cache of secret diplomatic cables dispatched from US embassies worldwide to the State Department in Washington.
The documents quoted several Zimbabweans in secret conversations with US embassy officials in Harare.
In one of the cables released by WikiLeaks, Tsvangirai and other leaders in his MDC-T allegedly suggested the US should contribute to a fund to buy off security service chiefs in order to bring about regime change in Zimbabwe.
In another cable, a senior Zanu PF official identified as Mudarikwa was said to have told US ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray that his party “was holding together because of the threat of MDC-T and foreign pressure”.
Tomana told journalists last year: “The WikiLeaks appear to show a treasonous collusion between local Zimbabweans and the aggressive international world, particularly the United States.”
