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| Fear grows in Zanu PF as officials interrogate top MDC man over amnesty deals, says lawyer |
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| author/source:Guardian (UK) |
| published:Wed 25-Jun-2008 |
| posted on this site:Wed 25-Jun-2008 |
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| Article Type : News |
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| Trying to negotiate their own future and not protect everybody else |
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Chris McGreal in Harare
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 treason charges 10 days ago, say he has been subjected to extensive interrogation by intelligence officers acting for top Zanu PF officials. They wanted to know if 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 Biti that he had been interrogated for 19 hours by three teams of eight people.
"These were not negotiators - the justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, and the labour minister, Nicholas Goche - told Biti in talks immediately after Mugabe lost the first round of presidential elections three months ago when Zanu PF put out tentative feelers for a power-sharing 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 Uriri. "They wanted to know specifically about whether there had been any individual agreements for amnesty from prosecution ... Biti said that he thought from the interrogation that there are people, important powerful people, in Zanu PF who were not briefed on what was happening and were afraid of being left unprotected."
Biti's 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 whatever the outcome of 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% inflation, and the ruling party has no answers. The government is also increasingly isolated even within the region which has largely supported 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 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 Biti if the change was part of a deal in return for a commitment not to prosecute the ministers. Uriri said Biti was also questioned about the MDC's position on power-sharing and his own preference among the various models available, including whether there would still be a role for Mugabe in government, again suggesting that elements of Zanu PF are leaning towards a negotiated way out of the political crisis, provided that their interests are protected. The lawyer said that almost none of the questions were about the charges against Biti - which include treason, based on a forged document published in the state press, causing disaffection in the armed forces, and insulting Mugabe. Uriri said that the line of interrogation shows that Biti's detention is political with the intent of removing an effective leader from the election 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. Biti was arrested as he stepped off an plane from South Africa 11 days ago. He has so far been refused bail.
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