Prof Moyo courted and connived with Sir Richard Branson to oust Mugabe

Daily News on Sunday (October 9) quotes WikiLeaks cables saying United States' "useful messenger" and serial political flip-flopper, Jonathan Moyo, courted and connived with British billionaire, Sir Richard Branson to help fund part of his plot to have President Mugabe out of power. Among other initiatives, the Moyo/Branson plan involved dangling a $10 million carrot to Mugabe to sweeten him to step down, but the 87-year-old leader was reportedly not interested.

Branson is one of the wealthiest businesspeople in the United Kingdom and owns reputable airline Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Megastores, Virgin Records, Virgin Mobile as well as a game lodge and several other businesses in South Africa and  the UK.

Branson is said to be interested in investing in Zimbabwe but wants to do it in a post-Mugabe era and is desperate for Mugabe to go.

According to a cable prepared by former US Ambassador to South Africa, Eric Bost on 11 July 2007 and leaked by whistle blower website, WikiLeaks, Moyo discussed, during several meetings and in correspondence with Branson, ways that could be exploited to oust Mugabe from power.

Moyo told Branson that it would be easy to use a group of African leaders whom he was to fully brief on how to convince the octogenarian leader to leave power.

In the cable, Bost listed former presidents Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Sam Nujoma (Namibia), Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia), Jerry Rawlings (Ghana), Joaquim Chissano (Mozambique), Daniel Arap Moi (Kenya) and Sir Ketumile Masire (Botswana) as the leaders that had agreed to take Mugabe head on and convince him to step down.

Before coming to Zimbabwe, the "elders" were to meet in Johannesburg, South Africa in July 2007 where they were to discuss how best they could engage with Mugabe.

"The 'elders' planned to meet secretly in Johannesburg on  July 17-18 with Branson to discuss their initiative," wrote Bost in his cable.