BABA JUKWA SAGA: DILEMMA OVER MOYO By Itai Dzamara HARARE THE political system of President Robert Mugabe has concluded that Information minister Jonathan Moyo is the godfather of the Baba Jukwa network, but now faced with serious dilemma on what action to take. The News Leader has established that there is a camp within the top leadership of the Mugabe system, which wants Moyo exposed and punished. On the other hand, another camp has been cautioning against humiliating the Information minister, fearing serious ripple effects and exposure of more damaging things. Top sources have revealed to us that the arrest and detention of Sunday Mail editor Edmund Kudzayi, led to the discovery of a lot of information - some reportedly provided as part of deals in exchange for freedom - which directed the investigators straight to the individuals and networks involved in Baba Jukwa. Kudzayi, our sources say, cooperated with the police and intelligence when he was in remand prison, and revealed key information, which, reportedly solved the puzzle of tracing the people behind Baba Jukwa, within top government and Zanu PF structures. It is now known that Moyo was one of the main forces behind the Baba Jukwa mission, a top government official said. What is before the leadership is the question of how to proceed and there is the legal path, as well as the political route. Moyo yesterday appeared for questioning by police over the Baba Jukwa case, after he had been summoned on Wednesday. We have it on good authority that even by Wednesday, there was still a tussle within the government, intelligence and police systems, on what to do with Moyo. One side wanted him to be arrested and charged, an impeccable source told us. At some point an instruction was given from the top, for his arrest, but it was changed after serious lobbying from those opposed to it. The source added that eventually, Moyo was summoned and had to appear at Harare Central Police stations Law and Order section, Thursday morning. Moyos camp reportedly scrambled after he had been summoned, and brokered a deal to have an arrangement that saw him appear at the Police General Headquarters, instead, and questioned by very senior officers. It was difficult to get an objective report of what transpired at the police when Moyo appeared in the company of his lawyer. Moyo did not answer his mobile phone on several occasions we attempted to interview him. He has been quoted in state press, trying to give an impression of him having been called by the police to help them with information, a claim three of our sources deny, as they are privy to the fact that Moyo was questioned about his role in the Baba Jukwa network. To underline the sensitivity and dilemma created by the Moyo case, police spokesperson Charity Charamba has evidently been struggling to handle queries about it. Yesterday she professed ignorance about Moyos questioning by police. Our impeccable sources say by Thursday evening, after Moyo had been questioned, there were frantic engagements within the intelligence, police and political top echelons, on how to proceed on Moyo. We understand there is a camp still insisting that he must be charged. It has not been possible to establish the position of President Mugabe on the matter of how Moyo must be dealt with. The rumbling Baba Jukwa saga came to the fore at the beginning of June, when President Mugabe took the unprecedented move of publicly attacking Moyo. Mugabe used the funeral of former Information minister Nathan Shamuyarira to brazenly undress Moyo and pour unbridled anger at his minister - calling him a devil incarnate and weevil. Investigations by The News Leader led to the revelation of the source of Mugabes anger towards Moyo. We revealed that the intelligence had compiled a report that implicated senior government and Zanu PF officials in the Baba Jukwa network, including Moyo. Minister of State in the Presidents Office, responsible for security, Didymus Mutasa weighed in with claims of a looming purge of the devil incarnates and weevils using gamatox. Ever since Mugabes outbursts, Moyo has remained subdued and far less involved as he used to do in almost every aspect of government operations. We have it on good authority that Moyos wings were severely clipped by the Mugabe system, with sources saying he is just serving time before being kicked out. The Baba Jukwa facebook page gained huge popularity through publication of sensational top secrets from the Zanu PF system, including leaked cabinet and Zanu PF politburo minutes. It was always clear, as the Mugabe system scrambled to identify the people involved, that there were senior party and government officials in the Baba Jukwa network. Intelligence investigations resulted in what is believed to have been discovery of the network involving Moyo, Kudzayi and others. However, the state has raised a lot of eyebrows and attracted criticism by implicating more than a dozen individuals in the Baba Jukwa saga, including journalists and a university student, making some observers dismiss the case as a deliberate diversionary ploy by the Mugabe regime.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 08:01:04 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015