'Gono's children deported to feed Tsvangirai's ego'

Dr Gideon Gono, who retired in December 2013, after a 10 year tenure as governor of Zimbabwe's central bank and was at the forefront of the country's fight to survive crippling economic sanctions, the most punitive ever imposed to any African country by Western governments and institutions has hinted that his 3 children were deported from Australian universities to feed the ego of the MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

In an interview he did with Baffour Ankomah the editor of the New Africa magazine, Gono tells how Zimbabwe survived the sanctions. He says, 'it is a miracle how we survived.

Ankomah asks Gono about his low moments during his tenure to which he responded.

"Well, I believe that the essence of leadership is to avoid sinking when the tide is low or being swept off your course when the tide is high. In both cases, the courage to remain in the water, the creativity to navigate out of the high or low tides, and conviction and common sense are what the ship's captain requires.

President Mugabe has all these qualities and some of us who worked closely with him literally every day, during all the economic challenges of my governorship, were cushioned from the worst effects of that traumatic period by his sheer wisdom and dexterity in motivating troops under attack.

There were, however, some incidents that the president could not do anything about so I got really affected. One such was when my three children, Passion, Pride, and Praise were chased out of Australian universities as sacrificial lambs to feed the ego of the MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was on a visit to that country. In order to appease him, the Australians took revenge on innocent children whose parents were being accused of standing in the way of Tsvangirai's failed regime change agenda.

My three children were at various universities in Australia and they were deported together with five other students belonging to Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramai, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, Commissioner General of Police Augustine Chihuri, and Legislator David Chapfika.

It was a very sad moment for us to go and receive these innocent children from the airport. Up to today, we and the children reflect upon that dreadful act, considering that it is a long-held tradition in any conflict situation that women and children should not be deliberately targeted.

An eight-day visit by Tsvangirai led to eight children's academic lives being sacrificed. Thankfully, President Mugabe asked me to try to financially assist the children to find alternative universities, and today, the kids have found their feet again. But minus any apology from my home- boy, Tsvangirai, whose village ironically now falls under my political leadership as the Buhera Senator-designate, in Manicaland Province.

Ankomah asked Gono about his second low moment.

"The second low moment in my tour of duty was when I woke up one day in July 2008 to find my name among a so-called "criminal cabal who now make up the Mugabe regime" (in the words of the then British prime minister, Gordon Brown), splashed all over the internet, especially on the Daily Telegraph website in Britain. Brown, and the US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice had drafted a UN Security Council resolution seeking to prevent me and 13 other Zimbabwean officials

When asked about whether he harbour any ill feelings towards Tsvangirai and would he forgive him, Gono said, "Who am I to keep holding grudges against anybody when the Bible and the Lord's Prayer teach us to ". .forgive those who trespass against us? We have to learn to move on. Those who keep on holding to the past risk losing focus today and forfeiting the future. Despite their continued attacks against me, I have forgiven them."