Jonathan Moyo was once described by a United States embassy official as a political chameleon, a master at changing spots, and a man driven by personal ambition.
This was after Moyo called on President Robert Mugabe, who still had three more years in office to complete his term, to step down to give way to a younger leader.
Moyo had just been expelled from the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front but had stood for Parliament and won the Tsholotsho seat as an independent candidate.
Moyo, now Mugabe’s favourite, said ZANU-PF was “an ideological shell” led by a man courageous in his youth but destructive in his dotage.
He said Mugabe’s “bombast was entertaining” but only hurt the country’s national interest.
While admiring his courage for calling on Mugabe to step down when everyone else did not dare say it, the US embassy official said in addition to the courage, Moyo appeared to have the intelligence and charisma needed to inspire and lead a movement for political change.
“But Moyo is also a political chameleon, a master at changing his spots, and a man driven by personal ambition. A year ago he argued with equal apparent conviction on behalf of a regime he may have hoped to lead and now reviles, and that past makes him suspect with those in the opposition and general public that he seeks to attract to his third force,” the embassy official said.
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