Last week, 90-year-old Zimbabwean despot Robert Mugabe “reportedly alleged that [his vice president] had been conspiring with the west and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to bring Zanu-PF down,” according to Mail and Guardian Africa.
Mugabe declared “‘We know the infiltrations that have come; we know the discussions that have been happening to link up with MDC and be one with America which then will pour lots of money,’ he was quoted as saying.”
Then, last Saturday, Mugabe “accused his vice president[,] [Joice Mujuru,] of plotting with the United States Embassy to remove him” by holding “secret meetings to plan his assassination,” according to the Daily Mail.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki says “allegations made about the activities of the U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe are baseless and do not merit a response.” However, according to Zimbabwe press, News Day, WikiLeaks documents record that Mujuru did in fact “clandestinely me[e]t with former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray ‘under cover of darkness’ on December 6, 2009, after dodging her security and the Central Intelligence Organisation.” Is the State Department covering up concerted efforts to overthrow Mugabe?
The Council on Foreign Relations—the prime driving force behind American foreign policy since its inception—has expressed its desire for a “post-Mugabe Zimbabwe” for some time now. Just prior to Zimbabwe’s 2008 elections, the CFR published a “Council Special Report: ‘Planning for Post-Mugabe Zimbabwe’” by Michelle D. Gavin, who has influenced American foreign policy as “foreign policy adviser to U.S. Senator Russell D. Feingold (D-WI), and . . . staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s subcommittee on African affairs” (9).
In this Special Report, Gavin strategizes on how the US can capitalize on internal strife in Zimbabwe by “influenc[ing] the cost-benefit calculus of powerful Zimbabwean and regional actors who are in a position to affect outcomes. The next Zimbabwean leaders may not be philosophically committed to transparent good governance or necessarily inclined to appreciate a strong opposition, but they may be willing to tolerate elements of both if doing so serves their interests” (18). Gavin then recommends that the United States influence the 2008 elections by “investing an additional $3 million to $5 million in the run-up to the polls” (21-22).
The 2008 elections resulted in a coalition government between the Zanu-PF party and the MDC party in which Mugabe (Zanu-PF) remained president while Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC), the CFR favorite, took the seat of prime minister. Not long after taking office, Tsvangirai was interviewed by CFR Senior Correspondent, Margaret Warner. During this interview, he thanked America for “humanitarian aid” and “welcome[d] the involvement in Africa of President Barack Obama and his emphasis on rebuilding what you call America’s soft power.”
Unhappy with the Zanu-PF/MDC coalition government two years later, Robert I. Rotberg wrote a 2010 Foreign Affairs article entitled “Mugabe Über Alles: The Tyranny of Unity in Zimbabwe.” In this piece, Rotberg asserts that then-Secretary-of-State Hillary Clinton should “appoint a strong regional envoy with ambassadorial status [my emphasis] with the goal of . . . transferring power to Tsvangirai [my emphasis].”
Consider that Joice Mujuru has been covertly meeting with US ambassadors while building a new political coalition with Tsvangirai and his MDC party. Is the Mujuru-Tsvangirai coalition an attempt to carry out the American-CFR policy given to Mujuru by the US ambassador at these meetings? Was there discussion of assassinating Mugabe at these meetings?
Mujuru has indeed been teaming up with Tsvangirai and the MDC. In fact, it is suspected that her husband, Solomon, was assassinated because of Mujuru’s evolving coalition with Tsvangirai, who was also charged with conspiring with the British government to assassinate Mugabe several years back.
Furthermore, in addition to her connections at the US Embassy, Mujuru likewise has a reputation for her connections to Western investors. According to another article from Mail and Guardian Africa, “first lady Grace Mugabe . . . accused Mujuru of using her influence to solicit bribes and ‘10% stakes’ in foreign firms.” A 2009 BBC report lends credence to Grace Mugabe’s accusations: “Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Joyce [sic] Mujuru tried to fund a multi-million dollar gold deal [with Firstar Europe] in defiance of international sanctions.” According to The Huffington Post, this illegal business venture also included over $15 million in diamonds.
So evidence abounds that Mujuru is in fact linked up in some sort of Machiavellian triangle between the US State Department, Western financiers, and the MDC opposition to Mugabe’s Zanu-PF regime. Is it possible, then, that the US, at the behest of the CFR, is trying to use Mujuru as an agent to foment a pro-West MDC overthrow of Mugabe?
Such a regime change would certainly be timely for the United States, for it would effectively box out Mugabe’s strengthening economic partnerships with Russia and China. It would also block a presidential succession by Emmerson Mnangagwa, whom CFR analyst Rotberg claims is “a close ally of China’s official diplomats and military attachés in Harare, as well as of the Chinese investors who have crowded into Zimbabwe.” And as international “currency wars” and reemerging Cold War tensions are polarizing geopolitical alliances into hostile standoffs the likes of World Wars I and II, Zimbabwe’s precious metals such as gold and platinum will come in handy to buoy currencies and fund war machines. Control of Zimbabwe’s political economy could also give America extra leverage over IMF “Structural Adjustments” and “Staff-Monitored Programs” to open Zimbabwe’s doors to US “free trade” hegemony in the region.
Cui bono? The United States definitely has motive to foment a pro-West coup in Zimbabwe. The United States also has a long history of involvement in black ops overthrows of foreign leaders—from Salvador Allende to Mohammad Mossadegh to Fidel Castro to Hugo Chavez. John Perkins details similar “economic hitman” tactics by the US in his Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
Hence, with the motive and the modus operandi, in light of the evidence I have documented above, the US is obviously the prime suspect in the alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe. If foul play is indeed afoot, it certainly raises new suspicions about the recent sex scandal in Zimbabwe involving disgraced ex-Congressman Mel Reynolds who, according to Wayne Madsen, “work[ed] for U.S. intelligence in the 1980s, via employment with the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) and USAID in Africa.”
John Klyczek has an MA in English and is a college English instructor, concentrating on the history of global eugenics and Aldous Huxley’s dystopic novel, “Brave New World.”
