Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Malawian President Joyce Banda took a swipe at members of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organization Thursday for allegedly engaging in “primitive politics” by forging a letter inviting the Malawian leader to Harare.
This emerged on Wednesday in South Africa when the two met on the sidelines of the launch of a book, Africa’s Third Liberation, authored by Geoff Herbst and Greg Mills in South Africa.
The Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jameson Timba is said to have briefed Mr. Tsvangirai and Mrs. Banda about the forged invitation letter sent to the Malawi president purportedly from the prime minister’s office.
Mr. Tsvangirai said the plot explains why the people of Zimbabwe have “engaged in a democratic struggle in the past 13 years to change such primitive politics.”
State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramai refused to comment.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Tsvangirai also said some African liberation icons have betrayed values of the liberation struggle saying they went into office without tangible economic plans forcing the new crop of African leaders to deal with serious economic problems.
Political analyst Joy Mabenge of the Institute for Democratic Alternatives for Zimbabwe told the VOA he suspects rogue elements in the securocrats are behind the forged letter.
Meanwhile, the prime minister will Saturday lead a memorial service for the late Zanu founder Ndabaningi Sithole. Mr. Tsvangirai's MDC, Zanu Ndonga and the Sithole family are expected to deliver speeches to honor Sithole.
MDC-T organizing secretary Nelson Chamisa said Zimbabweans from all walks of life are expected to throng the Sithole homestead in Chipinge for the service.