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'Misplaced faith in accuser'
13/02/2004 20:40 - (SA)
Harare - A senior Zimbabwean opposition figure says he didn't doubt the credentials of a Canadian political consultancy that later accused opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe.
Testifying in court at the treason trial of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai, who faces the death penalty if convicted, MDC official Renson Gasela said he placed faith in the firm because he knew one of the directors.
Gasela, a lawmaker and the MDC's shadow agriculture minister, said he had known Dickens and Madison director Rupert Johnson since 1991.
Ari Ben Menashe, the owner of the firm, is now alleging that Tsvangirai plotted the assassination of President Robert Mugabe ahead of 2002 presidential elections, which the MDC and the international community say was seriously flawed.
"My impression was that he (Johnson) was a solid businessman with international repute," Gasela told the Harare High Court.
Evidence based on video
Ben Menashe is the key state witness in the case. The state's evidence is based on a secretly recorded grainy and partially audible videotape of a meeting Tsvangirai attended in Montreal with Ben Menashe.
Gasela said that in August 2001, he received a telephone call from Johnson, asking him about the political situation in Zimbabwe and then expressing an interest in helping the MDC.
The two later met in London where Gasela was given a business card by Johnson which showed he was a director with Dickens and Madison.
Gasela said Johnson had indicated that his company was much more interested in assisting the MDC in the post-electoral period as he was convinced Tsvangirai would win the 2002 presidential polls.
"I expressed some interest and I told him I would report to the leadership of the party," said Gasela.
The MDC then engaged Ben Menashe to help promote its image and lobby the international community for funding, but said it realised later that it was also being used for a similar purpose by the Zimbabwean government.
- AFP
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