My Turn:- WikiLeaks: Penny  for my thoughts

gossip everywhere, hokoyo! Rinamanyanga hariputirweImbebebe ziyakhuzwa, Izibobo ziyakubona
What you do behind closed doors will be known everywhere! Hokoyo! Rinamanyanga hariputirwe . . .

Goes Oliver Mtukudzi’s ditty “Hariputirwe,” off his hit album Tsivo (Revenge). I just found myself whistling the lyrics to this song in the shower yesterday as my mind strayed to the 3000 plus diplomatic cables from the US embassy in Harare that were uploaded on the whistle-blower website, www.wikileaks.ch, last Friday. Cables that have sent tongues wagging in the streets and shivers down some guilty spines in the corridors of power.

Boy oh boy! What riveting reading they make and what insight into the inner workings of some of the political heads in our midst. Some of the cables are quite hilarious, some very explosive, others border on treason, some outright shocking in the extent of the betrayal, double-dealing or treachery exhibited by some politicians.
They, however, all serve a very useful purpose; they show us the inner workings of the minds or private thoughts of some politicians.
While some, whether from Zanu-PF or MDC-T, remained true to their convictions in their musings with the US ambassadors others appeared to mistake the American envoys for Catholic priests to whom they could lay their hearts bare oblivious to the fact most of the Yankee envoys are spooks on a mission.

Yet others came out as schizophrenics in the mould of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, portraying one persona by day and another by night.
While the US embassy’s diplomatic cables were never meant for my eyes, I can’t help some scepticism as they have a bearing on my country’s political landscape. Were it not for the ingenuity of Cde Julian Assange who somehow continues “defying” the odds by laying his hands on over 250 000 cables, almost a whole year, after his initial security breach, I wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of seeing even one such cable.

WikiLeaks is the talk of the town.
Newspapers are feasting on the contents. Even some people who have not seen a single cable talk authoritatively of the contents, albeit from hearsay.
WikiLeaks is the new fad, soon to pass with or without some political casualties. Who knows, Zimbabweans being Zimbabweans, WikiLeaks may soon become a baby name.

Anyway in all this euphoria, history counsels caution when dealing with Uncle Sam and anything associated with him. Several questions beg answers and bid us to suspend belief.
Firstly the cables are all from one source – the US embassy in Harare – which has its own agenda to serve, namely the advancement of US foreign policy.
This means the US envoys are at liberty to omit context, doctor quotations and put their own reading to the conversations knowing their sources can’t see the final, confidential despatch.

Secondly the WikiLeaks began at the end of last year; almost a year ago which means the US would have tightened its intelligence system by now to curb further leaks and potential embarrassment.
The fact that the latest releases contain this year’s cables raises eyebrows about WikiLeaks in general. The site may since have been compromised with the US giving Assange access to what they want him to have to further their own interests.

Uncle Sam doctored intelligence to justify the Iraq invasion, what would prevent him from doctoring cables in a bid to influence Zimbabwe’s political process?
Food for thought.
I personally take anything from the US embassy, at this stage of our revolution, with a pinch of salt. I suspect there are lots of fabrications in some of the cables. Western ambassadors are not exactly known for giving their home countries the real Zimbabwean picture anyway.

Third, and to me most importantly, I can’t believe that senior Zanu-PF officials – fully aware of the state of Zim-US relations – would badmouth the President or First Lady to the Americans knowing that sooner or later it could be used against them.
The cables are by and large the opinion of successive US ambassadors, it is their reading of the political situation in our country at specific times.

The contents of the cables are essentially an expression of the private thoughts of politicians and some key stakeholders.
Thoughts they wouldn’t air publicly and only pronounced when they thought they were speaking in confidence. Each of us, unless we are brain-dead, have our own private thoughts, and the only difference between us and those named in the WikiLeaks cables is that our private thoughts are not known.

So let’s tread carefully. Like we say in journalism, lets check the interest of the source, the US embassy.
Our three main political parties must also self-introspect, why are its senior officials outsourcing what should be vibrant intra-party debate to the US embassy?
For the two MDCs I would understand since Uncle Sam is co-owner of their franchise, I do not get it where Zanu-PF is concerned, the grievances being taken to Uncle Sam should be addressed at Shake-Shake Building.

Let’s promote intra-party debate, it is only through vigorous debate that the supreme view can prevail to guide policy.
Don’t get me wrong, I am questioning the veracity or lack thereof of the contents of the cables, and just counselling caution in reacting to the allegations therein. I am not condoning midnight meetings with representatives of hostile forces at this stage of the revolution. That is unforgivable, and I hope those who were given to such habits dig a hole and spit in it.

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