Should Jonathan Moyo resign now?

The recent unprecedented but predictable summoning or should we say 'arrest' of Prof Jonathan Moyo by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) over the Baba Jukwa saga raises the question if the minister of media and information should resign.

Of course, urging Jonathan Moyo to resign would certainly provoke a tantrum given that another Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has also been interviewed in the presence of his lawyer by police over the Baba Jukwa saga. Constitutional lawyers need to clarify if the new constitution allows these ministers to remain in office, even though they have not yet been charged. While both of them may need to step down, there appear to be more compelling reasons against Moyo.

Why Jonathan Moyo must go

Firstly, one view argues that Moyo has no constituency after recently losing his appeal in the supreme court.

His resignation as information minister and politician would ensure he has no unfair advantage against his political rivals due to his control of the media.

In any case, this is not the first time Moyo has been asked to resign. It will be recalled that Zanu-PF leader Robert Mugabe in June 2014 urged Jonathan Moyo to resign and join football. He accused Moyo of dishonesty and lacking principled vision likening him to a skilful football player. Speaking at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, at the busrial of former cabinet minister Nathan Shamuyarira, Mugabe said Zanu-PF had been infested by weevils which should be taken care of.

"Shamuyarira had a people-oriented direction when he was minister of information and not these little ideas of how I can get so and so. Hatidi munhu anonzvengesa vanhu sebhora (We do not want people who dribble others as in football). Kana wafunga zvekunzvengesa (If you want to dribble), why don't you go and join Highlanders or Dynamos," Mugabe said (see The Daily News, 'Mugabe savages Jonathan Moyo again,' 8 June 2014).

"MuZanu mune zvipfukuto. Zanu ine zvipfukuto woye. Manje kana chipfukuto chapinda mutsanga ingava nyemba kana chibage haichadyika wotoda chidokohori (Zanu is full of weevils. Let us do away with these weevils and get rid of them because they make the seed inedible (see The Daily News, 08/06/14).

The second reason why Jonathan Moyo must go now is to facilitate police investigations which include the questioning or was it interrogation he underwent over the Baba Jukwa saga. Proof that he potentially faces serious charges, Moyo himself saw it fit to hire a lawyer rather than walk into the Police General Head Quarters (PGHQ) and answer the CID questions in his eloquent English.

Instead he hired a lawyer, not just an ordinary lawyer but one Terence Hussein who has represented or advised the Zanu-PF leader Robert Mugabe in electoral, constitutional and sanctions cases, although Moyo's case curiously does not fall in those categories.

Taste of his own medicine?

Thirdly, Moyo's resignation would be more justified to save Mugabe the hassle of dismissing him. Moyo should jump before he is pushed in the same way he called on his political rivals to resign, for example MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai on what some described as trumped-up charges.

Despite allegedly advising the United States diplomats in Harare on removing Robert Mugabe from power and who to include on the sanctions list, Jonathan Moyo said MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai shoud resign as Prime Minister In December 2010, because of what he alleged were treasonous offences he allegedly committed as detailed in cables released by Wikileaks.

"There are only two things that could happen in any civilised democracy, for him to resign not just from government but public life altogether. He must also be prosecuted for a litany of treasonous acts against the State," Moyo told The Herald (See Charles Rukuni, 'Jonathan Moyo says Tsvangirai should resign', Insider, Saturday 11 December 2010). Also see New Zimbabwe, 'Tsvangirai must resign: Zanu-PF', 11/12/10; SWRadioAfrica, Wikileaks exposes Jonatham Moyo's fickle Zanu-PF loyalty', 06/09/11).However,  Moyo failed to convince  the police to arrest him nor the Attorney General to prosecute him.

In June 2011, Jonathan Moyo agitated for the arrest of MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai and Jameson Timba, the then Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, saying they had allegedly violated Section 33 of the Criminal Code Section 33, which prohibits the undermining of the authority of the President or insulting the Head of State and Government.

Responding to public statements by the then PM to the effect that the President lied about the outcome of the Sadc Extraordinary Summit held in Sandton, South Africa, Jonathan Moyo  agitated for the arrest of the two senior MDC-T officials.

"I strongly believe that it is high time that the law should take its course," Moyo told the national broadcaster. He added: 'It is totally unacceptable for Tsvangirai and Jameson Timba to call Cde Mugabe a liar. Who is Tsvangirai? He is just a senior minister and Timba a junior minister …" (See Newsday, 'Plot to arrest Tsvangirai', 22 July 2011). Analysts argued that what Timba said of Mugabe paled into oblivion if compared to what Moyo used to say when he was fired by Mugabe.

Nevertheless, Moyo got his wish when Timba was arrested, but the man who lost the Tsholotsho parliamentary post in July 2013 was not satisfied, as he also called for the arrest of the then Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Demanding Moyo's resignation in this context, is justified because he is being asked to taste his own medicine.

Is Jonathan Moyo behind the 263preez Team?

Resigning now would enable Jonathan Moyo to come clean on his political ambitions after recent reports linked him to an online movement calling itself 263preez Team, which is reportedly campaigning for him to be Zanu-PF presidential candidate for the 2018 elections. Although Moyo has allegedly not publicly denied claims that he is behind the group, Mugabe has always maintained a close eye on Jonathan Moyo. For instance, in March 2005 he hinted that Moyo had sought to engineer a military coup after he left Zanu-PF which he later applied to rejoin.

"He did terrible things, going to the army commander …did you want to effect a coup in your favour, so you become leader?" Mugabe asked. When asked if he plotted a coup, Jonathan Moyo cried.

"We asked him whether he wanted to stage a coup…and tears started flowing down his cheeks," Mugabe said in Moyo's home district (see BBC,' Mugabe made ex-spin doctor cry', 24/03/05).

Who should go first - Mugabe or Moyo?

While Mugabe has hinted on why Jonathan Moyo must go into football, what is intriguing is that during Moyo's  days in the wilderness (2005), did not mince his words on 'Why Mugabe must go now.'

"That Mugabe must go now is thus no longer a dismissible opposition slogan but a strategic necessity that desperately needs urgent legal and constitutional action by Mugabe himself well ahead of the presidential election scheduled for March 2008 in order to safeguard Zimbabwe's national interest, security and sovereignty," said Moyo.  

"He (Mugabe) is without compassion, maybe because he is now too old, too tired and not in the best of health," Moyo said (See Nehandaradio, 'Jonathan Moyo's view on Mugabe exposed,' 20/07/11).

Analysis
With the succession crisis degenerating into a typhoon fast approaching Zanu-PF headquarters by December (Congress time), calls on Jonathan Moyo to resign are likely to get louder if he survives being sacked before then. Zimbabwe would appear destined for a prolonged period of leadership failure and turbulence.

Despite the bad blood between the serial flip-flopper and his 90-year old boss, their dialectical relationship seems to be holding, though Mugabe remains tight lipped about his successor amid reports that Grace Mugabe's ascendency into the party's anachronistic politburo is a strategic plan to safeguard  a possible succession.

More intriguing are reports that Mr Mugabe's "rumoured possible successor" Grace is contemplating studying for a doctorate degree at UZ although she has no postgraduate qualification and reportedly dismally failed and dropped out of a University of London Bachelor of Arts (English) correspondence degree course after obtaining marks as low as 7% in one of the subjects.

Rather than being mired in a life of seemingly endless political controversy, it is fair to say Jonathan Moyo should better resign now and go back to university, not football as suggested by Mugabe, where he stands a chance to salvage his reputation as an academic.

Clifford is a London-based political analyst. Zimanalysis2009@gmail.com