DISTRUST AND SUSPICION:THE ARREST and interrogation of the second most senior opposition official in Zimbabwe has exposed divisions and paranoia within Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF that indicate important elements of the ruling party believe the government may soon collapse.
Lawyers for Tendai Biti, the secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change who was arrested on charges of treason 10 days ago, say that he has been subjected to extensive interrogation by intelligence officers acting for senior Zanu-PF officials. They wanted to know whether key cabinet ministers were striking individual deals with the opposition to avoid prosecution for corruption and political violence, leaving other Zanu-PF leaders exposed.
One of the lawyers, Lewis Uriri, said he was told by Mr Biti that he had been interrogated for 19 hours by three teams of eight people.
“These were not the usual law and order police. They were either CIO [Central Intelligence Organisation] or strategists for Zanu-PF,” he said.
Uriri said the interrogators were interested in what the ruling party’s two chief negotiators – the justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, and the labour minister, Nicholas Goche – told Mr Biti in talks immediately after Mr Mugabe lost the first round of presidential elections three months ago. Then, Zanu-PF put out tentative feelers for a powersharing government before hardliners opted to pursue a more violent strategy to crush the opposition.
“Biti’s sense was that there is so much distrust and suspicion in Zanu-PF that these people wanted to verify what Goche and Chinamasa [said]. There was a sense from the questions that the interrogators thought Goche and Chinamasa were trying to negotiate their own future, and not protect everybody else at the top of the party,” said Mr Uriri.
“They wanted to know specifically about whether there had been any individual agreements for amnesty from prosecution . . .
Mr Biti said that he thought from the interrogation that there were “people, important powerful people, in Zanu-PF who were not briefed on what was happening and were afraid of being left unprotected”. His account would suggest that while Zanu-PF projects a powerful monolithic front to the outside world, there is a realisation in some quarters that the administration is doomed whether or not Mr Mugabe wins Friday’s widely discredited election, and that a deal with the opposition would have to be made.
Zimbabwe’s economy is collapsing ever more rapidly, with prices of ordinary goods now running into billions of local dollars amid 1,600,000 per cent inflation, and the ruling party has no answers. The government is also increasingly isolated even within the region, which has largely supported Mr Mugabe up until now.
In a line of questioning that appears to reflect a deep paranoia and distrust within the highest levels of Zanu-PF, the interrogators also asked Mr Biti why Chinamasa and Goche agreed at talks mediated by South Africa last year to change election procedures, including posting the results at each polling station, that helped prevent the ruling party from stealing the first round.
The interrogators asked Mr Biti whether the change was part of a deal in return for a commitment not to prosecute the ministers.
Mr Uriri said Mr Biti was also questioned about the MDC’s position on powersharing and his own preference among the various models available, including whether there would still be a role for Mr Mugabe in government, again suggesting that elements of Zanu-PF are leaning towards a negotiated way out of the crisis, provided their interests are protected.
The lawyer said that almost none of the questions were about the charges against Mr Biti himself, which include treason (based on a forged document published in the state press), causing disaffection in the armed forces, and insulting Mr Mugabe.
Mr Uriri said the line of interrogation shows that Mr Biti’s detention is political, with the intent of removing an effective leader from the campaign and discovering the MDC’s long-term political intent.
“The whole idea, according to him, was to disrupt the MDC campaign, to keep him out of circulation, particularly in light of the opposition victory in the first round,” he said.
Mr Biti was arrested as he stepped off a plane from South Africa 11 days ago. He has so far been refused bail. – (Guardian service)