Some MDC-T top officials on Mugabe's payroll

In a desperate bid to be in power, some senior MDC-T officials are unknowingly "spying" for Zanu PF as they try to penetrate the top brass of the country's closely-knit security sector, sources said last week.

Over the past few years, some senior MDC-T officials have been privately meeting key army and intelligence officers in their bid to court them for support in the event the party wins the next elections.

But the officers have been relaying all the discussions and tactics to their bosses, making it easy for President Robert Mugabe to thwart any strategic political manoeuvres by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party.

Some of the country's service chiefs have vowed that they would not salute Tsvangirai even if he won an election because he did not have liberation war credentials.

Sources said some of the army officers even met with Tsvangirai at his Harare's Strathaven home sometime last year, but The Standard could not establish the subject of their deliberations.

Tsvangirai's links with the CIO.

The meeting was facilitated by officers in Tsvangirai's office, one with known links to the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).

Sources said some of the officers were at one time accused of being sympathetic to Tsvangirai by their bosses and are now determined to show their unwavering allegiance to Mugabe by unearthing as much secret information concerning the former opposition party as possible.

Tsvangirai's spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka could not be reached for comment.

However, party spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora on Friday denied that Tsvangirai or any of their senior party members had met with army officers.

Efforts to get a comment from Army spokesperson Major Alphios Makotore on Friday were fruitless.