EMBATTLED Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi yesterday released a sensational “intelligence report” by what he calls “rogue agents” claiming that Zimbabwe was supplying arms of war and training bandits to destabilise Rwanda.
Political Editor
The report, which Vavi claimed was meant to discredit him, alleged,
without giving evidence, that about 200 people were “undergoing crack
commando training in insurgency, intelligence, guerrilla warfare and
medic” at an unidentified farm in Bindura.
It claimed the plot to destabilise Rwanda and other unmentioned South
African neighbours was part of a grand plan by the United States
through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a non-governmental
organisation bankrolled by the US Congress.
The report further alleged that the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC-T was also being sponsored by NED.
Efforts to get a comment from Presidential spokesperson George Charamba were in vain as he was not picking up his mobile phone.
Media and Information minister Webster Shamu said he could only
comment after seeing the report. The report was then emailed to him, but
he had not responded by the time of going to print.
However, this is the first time the sensational claims have been made
against Zimbabwe and the report did not categorically specify that the
“bandits” were being trained by the government.
Vavi released the sensational “intelligence report” a day after his
suspension by Cosatu’s special central executive committee after a
junior employee accused the trade unionist of rape. He admitted to
having consensual sex with her. The woman subsequently withdrew a sexual
harassment complaint against him.
The report claims a South African arms dealer, Fana Hlongwane, was
working with Zimbabwe Defence Industries chairperson Tshinga Dube to
purchase weapons destined for Rwanda.
“South African arms dealer is Fana Hlongwane and Zimbabwean dealer Colonel Tshinga Dube.
Conclusive evidence can be obtained regarding all the information
that I passed over, but it might take a while, the baseline is what we
have is intelligence which is solid but not enough to have a watertight
case,” the report claimed.
However, contacted for comment last night, Dube refuted the allegations.
“They are liars,” said Dube. “We are not enemies with Rwanda. Maybe
they are confusing with DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) because we
have supplied weapons to DRC, not rebels. DRC is a legitimate
government.”
He added: “We don’t deal with rebels in any form and we insist on an
end user certificate. Hlongwane is a South African businessman and we
have no relationship with him. The end user certificate has to be
issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Defence of a country.”
The report claimed Rwandan fugitive Protais Mpiranya was responsible
for the recruitment of bandits in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Mpiranya is a
former commander of the Presidential Guard in Rwanda and is reportedly
in Zimbabwe.
“A group of 200 are undergoing crack commando training in insurgency,
intelligence, guerilla warfare and medic in Zimbabwe. The group in
Zimbabwe is handled by ex-millitary operatives who had operated in the
Congo before and also senior army operatives who are active. They are
on a farm in Bindura about 100km from Harare,” reads the report.
“Is the government of Zimbabwe aware? Yes, they are aware, but not all of them.”
On allegations of the MDC-T receiving funding from NED, the report claimed: “Morgan Tsvangirai is controlled by the NED and thereby the whole of MDC.”
On allegations of the MDC-T receiving funding from NED, the report claimed: “Morgan Tsvangirai is controlled by the NED and thereby the whole of MDC.”
The report said: “NED knew Tsvangirai was going to be the Prime
Minister one day and together with the USA ‘institutionalised the
economy of Zimbabwe’.
“There are diamonds now, there is also platinum and gold there. They
will create a fiefdom, turn the economy into a powerhouse controlled by
the USA, above all, they will remove the liberation movement,” the
report said.
MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora rubbished the claim.
“That is extremely wrong,” said Mwonzora. “That is not true. The
MDC-T gets its money from the Treasury in terms of the Political Parties
Finances Act by virtue of being represented in Parliament. We are not
controlled by NED.”
The report also claimed that Botswana President Ian Khama and Kenyan
opposition leader Raila Odinga were also in the pocket of NED.
The report, whose authenticity could not be verified, alleged that
Vavi was working with non-governmental organisations to topple the
ANC-led government.
The report further claimed that Vavi was intending to form a
political party and was involved in the formation of the Agang South
Africa political party along with academic and activist Mamphela
Ramphele.
Among senior ANC leaders mentioned in the report is party deputy
president Cyril Ramaphosa, former Human Settlements minister Tokyo
Sexwale, Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, University of the Free
State vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen, political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki
and Mail & Guardian proprietor Trevor Ncube.
Ncube last night said: “It’s total nonsense.”
Vavi said through his lawyers that Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini had
been distributing the so-called intelligence report to Cosatu leaders,
who were to attend the special central executive committee meeting on
Wednesday.
Vavi yesterday said he decided to challenge his suspension because
Dlamini and other leaders who pushed for his removal were prejudiced. —
Additional reporting from M&G.
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