Sayings of Chairman Moyo
"It was scandalous for a white man from
South Africa to make it his business to come and tell Zimbabweans what
to think about themselves," he said. "The government would not tolerate
a white South African, linked to Tony Leon of the Democratic Party,
coming into the country to initiate the people." In future he would be
declared "persona non grata". (Focus 20, December 2000).
Fortunately the ban did not stop Johnson reporting from Zimbabwe
during the presidential election. And once again Moyo, and the
state-controlled media, have had some pretty rum things to say about
the Foundation and Johnson. In a long speech to Parliament in Harare on
January 31, 2002, during which he berated a number of journalists. Moyo
culminated with the following words:
"The British have relied on the Daily News [Harare's independent
daily] to project their viewpoint and defend their interests here,
whether pursued directly or indirectly through proxy politics. More
significantly the paper has provided a platform for Rhodesian
ideologies [sic] like John Robertson, Norman Reynolds [both prominent
economists] and R.W. Johnson of the Helen Suzman Foundation who use the
Daily News as a platform for reissuing colonial myths, stereotypes,
slurs, bigotry and prejudices against black Zimbabweans." (Hansard,
Zimbabwean Parliamentary debates. Official Report, Vol 28, No 48, Col
4409, Thursday January 31, 2002.)
Then an article in the Sunday Mail on February 24 claimed that a
survey published in the Financial Gazette, an independent weekly,
indicating a victory for Morgan Tsvangirai had not been undertaken by
Target Research and paid for by the Gazette as claimed. It had been
bankrolled, said the report, by the Helen Suzman Foundation and the
British Westminster Foundation to the tune of $200,000.
"It has now emerged from the manager of the project that the survey
result as finalised, and before the white sponsors doctored it,
indicated that President Mugabe was leading Tsvangirai by 52 per cent.
It had to be changed in favour of Mr Tsvangirai because the sponsors
argued that women favoured President Mugabe."
In addition, it said, the United States government, which had not made
secret its intentions and hostility towards the Mugabe government, had
paid $500,000 for another survey, while Tony Leon of "the white
supremacist party of South Africa" had financed yet another.
"These surveys are being quoted left, right and centre, even by some
UN agencies, as being authentic and reflecting what the people of
Zimbabwe are thinking. They are all part of the international
conspiracy to ensure that a self-fulfilling prophecy is achieved. It is
in the interest of the public to be aware of this unholy alliance,"
declared the report.