[A-List] Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai frame crumbling

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Mugabe 'paid Israeli spy to frame opposition leader'
By Basildon Peta, Zimbabwe Correspondent
The Independent, 10 July 2002

A former Israeli intelligence officer has earned more than US$450,000
(£290,000) from President Robert Mugabe, partly as a reward for
framing the Zimbabwean leader's main political opponent, officials in
the government revealed yesterday.

Mr Mugabe's chief political foe, Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), faces hanging or life
in jail if convicted of high treason over an alleged plot to kill
President Mugabe. He is to appear in court to answer the charges next
month.

The Zimbabwe government is using grainy video footage of a meeting Ari
Ben-Menashe held with Mr Tsvangirai in Montreal as the basis of its
evidence against the opposition leader.

Mr Tsvangirai was shown in the video saying what sounded like
incriminating statements about "eliminating" Mr Mugabe. The opposition
leader denies the charges, claiming that the video footage was carefully
edited and manipulated by Mr Ben-Menashe to frame him and two of his
party officials who attended the meeting.

The controversial Israeli operative is being investigated by Scotland
Yard for allegedly trying to sell false information on the death of
Diana, Princess of Wales, casting fresh doubt over the credibility of
the allegations against Mr Tsvangirai.

Canadian police have dropped their own investigation for lack of
evidence that Mr Tsvangirai plotted in Canada to eliminate Mr Mugabe.

According to well-placed Zimbabwean government officials, Mr Mugabe
authorised $450,000 as payment for Mr Ben-Menashe for his work in
recording the video and for agreeing to be the state's key witness in
the case against Mr Tsvangirai.

About $200,000 of the total was for Mr Ben-Menashe to market Zimbabwe
abroad through his Canadian-based consultancy firm, Dickens and Madson.

Mr Ben-Menashe was also to be paid an extra $400 000 for his marketing
contract by the end of this year, they said.

Mr Ben-Menashe, called a "delusional and chronic liar" by the Jerusalem
Post , has travelled to Zimbabwe twice this year and has met Mr Mugabe
on both occasions. His travel expenses were paid for by the Zimbabwe
government.

The sources did not want to reveal details of how Mr Ben-Menashe was
paid as this would "expose" and "harm" certain people. It is, however,
understood that Mr Ben-Menashe's payments were all handled by Mr
Mugabe's spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation.

The officials interviewed yesterday accused Mr Ben- Menashe of "milking"
the Zimbabwe government yet "doing nothing" to market the country abroad
as promised.

"Apart from providing the video with Morgan [Tsvangirai] he has not
implemented any campaigns he promised to improve Zimbabwe's image
abroad," said one source.

Another source said officials were concerned about Mr Ben-Menashe
continuing to earn more money for work he was not doing.

There are fears that Mr Mugabe's courts could convict Mr Tsvangirai on
the basis of the videotape, notwithstanding the questionable credibility
of the former Mossad spy. Mr Ben-Menashe cold not be reached for comment
yesterday.