Not all Zanu PF politicians sold out when they met and held discussions with United States diplomats, observers said last night.
Contrary to the general perception that every Zanu PF or government official who met US diplomats stabbed President Robert Mugabe in the back, others were clearly frank and honest about political and economic developments in the country.
It also emerged that some of the officials quoted in the diplomatic cables relayed to President Mugabe the contents of their discussions with the diplomats.
Others even misled the diplomats, selling them dummies. The analysts cited as an example, the reported discussion between an American diplomat and Tourism minister Walter Mzembi in which the Zanu PF politician said he believed neither Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa nor Vice-President Joice Mujuru could win an election against the MDC-T if they replaced President Mugabe.
They also cited meetings between Olivia Muchena, Minister of Women Affairs, and Simon Khaya Moyo, the Zanu PF national chairman. Blessing Vava, a political observer, said it was “nonsense” to suggest that every Zanu PF politician who met the diplomats sold out on President Mugabe.
Vava said: “They were not undermining (President) Mugabe. It’s normal that they meet diplomats in the line of their duty. They do not need any approval to have those meetings. They meet them at various levels. It is nonsense to suggest that everyone who met the diplomats sold out.”
Other observers agreed saying discussions captured in some of the cables were in fact progressive. In one cable Muchena is quoted telling former US ambassador to Zimbabwe that Zanu PF was not prepared to work with the MDC before they withdrew their motion to impeach President Mugabe and stopped their calls for his resignation.
“Clearly, she was not selling out,” said one observer.
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Mzembi also said President Mugabe was aware of the divisions within the party and wasafraid the party would fall apart in his absence.
“President Mugabe will not step down at the Zanu PF conference in December,” Mzembi said. Observers said Mzembi’s comments did not undermine President Mugabe and neither were they detrimental to the former guerilla leader.
