The Insider

Jestina Mukoko, the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, told United States embassy officials two weeks before the 2008 elections that access to food from the state-run Grain Marketing Board was reserved for the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front members.

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David Butau was a rising political star when he was elected to Parliament in 2005. He was quickly promoted to chair the strategic Budget committee. He was former army commander Solomon Mujuru and Mai Mujuru’s right hand man. Then he got into trouble over currency charges and fled the country. That was his end, though he was later acquitted. But the fact that he arranged a meeting between United States ambassador Charles Ray and the Vice-President when he held no political office shows he is still a force to reckon with. There are five cables on him. Here they are.

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With the elections in Kenya over, all eyes are now on Zimbabwe. The two countries have the same recent history. They had uneasy coalition governments after disputed presidential elections. The difference today is, however, that Kenya was holding national elections to decide the new president while Zimbabwe will be holding a referendum to decide on the country’s new constitution.

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Movement for Democratic Change treasurer Roy Bennett told a United States congressional delegation that villagers across Zimbabwe consistently spoke about two main issues that should be resolved: the continued tenure of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and the need for some form of justice.

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United States assistant secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson said he had long regarded President Robert Mugabe’s stay in office as infinite as long as the security forces were behind him.

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Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s advisor Ian Makone told United States embassy four years ago that agreement had been reached on all key issues including the appointment of permanent secretaries, governors, ambassadors, Roy Bennett, Gideon Gono and Johannes Tomana.

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Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Information and Communications Technology Minister Nelson Chamisa piled pressure on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to get President Robert Mugabe to resolve all outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement in just five days.

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Human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said the Global Political Agreement would not work as long as Johannes Tomana was attorney-general because he was using his position to erode the rule of law and to politicise certain cases.

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Finance Minister Tendai Biti said although there were three outstanding “toxic” issues within the Global Political Agreement, President Robert Mugabe was very cooperative and acted as a “bosom buddy”.

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