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The Herald has it on good authority that Mr Tsvangirai’s visit to France from Nove-mber 7 to 10 this year to receive the Inter-national Association of Political Consultants award was used to mask meetings with top US government officials to map an election strategy.

While MDC-T has claimed that Mr Tsvangirai’s visit was for State business, it has emerged that Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to France, Mr David Hamadziripi, was barred from the meeting.
Present in the meeting were Mr Tsva-ngirai, party spokesperson Mr Nelson Chamisa and Mr Jameson Timba, who is the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office.

They met IAPC president Mr Thomas Edmonds, who introduced them to Mr Brad O’Leary, an “elections expert”, who promised to mobilise funding and help with MDC-T’s poll strategy.
Apart from that, Mr Tsvangirai is understood to have engaged the services of British intelligence operative Mr Charles Heatly (or variously called Charles Beatle), who is said to be presently based in Harare and is helping with speech writing among other activities.

On the France meetings with the Ameri-cans, a source said: “Tsvangirai is panicking because he did not think that President Mugabe would call an election.

“Ambassador Hamadziripi and embassy staff were not allowed into the meeting. He (Tsvangirai) used the trip to France to hold meetings with individuals who promised him backing.

“The Americans could not understand why Tsvangirai was scared of an election because the party and its backers have fed them the myth that Zanu-PF is finished.

“Thomas Edmonds introduced Tsvangirai to Brad O’Leary, a prominent pollster in the US. O’Leary promised to mobilise funding to finance MDC-T’s election campaign next year.”

Foreign funding is illegal under Zimba-bwe’s Political Parties (Finance) Act.
Yesterday, Mr Chamisa refused to comment on the trip saying that it was Govern-ment business and not a party issue.

He, however, did not explain what Government business he was on and how the award that Mr Tsvangirai was given in his capacity as MDC-T leader constituted a State affair.

“I do not know anything about the issue,” he charged.
Efforts to get a comment from Mr Timba were fruitless yesterday.

Americans — who constitute over 50 percent of the membership — dominate the IAPC, which gave Mr Tsvangirai the award.
Political analyst and Tsholotsho North legislator Professor Jonathan Moyo said: “Tsvangirai has been a recipient of a chain of dubious awards from Western organisations.

“What seems to be common about the so-called democracy awards is that they are all coming from regime change outfits.

“They allege that he is a champion of democracy yet facts on the ground show that he cannot be anywhere close to what they say about him.

“The whole issue here is about regime change and the US props up figures who posture as recognised international statesmen. They reward these people with dubious awards while claiming that they are championing democracy.”

On the issue of intelligence operative Heatly/Beatle and the work he is reportedly doing in the PM’s Office, the British Embassy in Harare last Friday declined to comment.
In a written response, the embassy said: “Thanks for your inquiry. I am referring you to the Prime Minister’s Office to respond to these questions.

“The embassy can only respond to British policy-related issues in Zimbabwe.”

The PM’s Office staff could not be rea-ched for comment.
However, The Herald has it on good authority that Heatly/Beatle came into Zimbabwe last year and has been credited with establishing the structures of the parallel government in the PM’s Office along with five other British intelligence operatives.
A source said: “They are being paid by the British government through an organisation called Adam Smith International.

“Heatly has been deployed to countries where Britain has tried to influence governance issues.

“He has been to Baghdad (Iraq), Afgha-nistan, Myanmar and Kenya where he reportedly helped (Raila) Odinga establish himself as Prime Minister.

“Following the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, Heatly and 50 other officials from the UK Office of Reconstruction and Humani-tarian Affairs were deployed to Iraq.
“These people are not specialists in relief work, reconstruction and sustainable development. Heatly was deployed as the eyes and ears of the UK Foreign and Common-wealth Office because of his communication skills.

“Heatly also speaks fluent Arabic,” revealed a source.

Another official told The Herald Heatly/Beatle’s task in Iraq was “to win the hearts of Iraqis who were suffering under foreign rule to accept the coalition forces as their liberators”.
“He is a spin doctor, a spook and he lies. From Iraq, he was posted to Kenya where he helped set up Odinga’s office.

“Heatly was then deployed to Harare to organise and set up the parallel structures in the PM’s Office,” said the official.

The official said the British operative briefly worked from the PM’s Munhumu-tapa offices before relocating to MDC-T offices in Avondale.