January 29, 2004,
Mark Davis
Dateline
SBS TV
Locked Bag 028
CROWS NEST NSW 1585
New evidence concerning the Dateline Programs of February 2002 on alleged Morgan Tsvangirai plot to kill Robert Mugabe
Dear Mark,
I was disappointed with your response to me at the media issues forum last Thursday night at Sydney University. Rather like a politician, you answered another question rather than the one I asked you, about the evidence that has come to light in the treason trial of Morgan Tsvangirai.
I have decided to put this to you in writing in a situation where you can consider the new material in private.
In the evidence presented by the prosecution witnesses in the trial up to August 2003, the tapes which you used on the Dateline program did not establish that Mr Tsvangirai asked for the murder of Mr Mugabe. As a result, the prosecution has sought and now succeeded in amending the indictment to allege that this request was made at earlier meetings, for which you had no recordings.
Therefore, would you now reconsider the blunt allegation made on your program, based on the video tapes, that Mr Tsvangirai has been plotting to kill Mr Mugabe?
Video tape transcripts
The transcripts of the video tapes show that Mr Tsvangirai used the word "eliminate" rarely in the entire six hours and in those instances gave it the meaning of "goes", but the transcripts show that Mr Ben Menashe used "eliminate" ten times in relation to President Mugabe. Mr Ben Menashe did not say "assassinate", "murder" or "coup d’etat", except once when he equated it with "elimination, whatever you call it". Mr Ben Menashe emerged from the transcripts as the inciter to a crime he had no intention of carrying out. I include a longer set of excerpts from the transcripts at the end of this letter to demonstrate this.
It appears at best that, based on the video tape, you could allege that Mr Tsvangirai had been discussing the "elimination" of Mr Mugabe.
Audio tape
The transcript of the audio tape of the meeting between Mr Tsvangirai and Mr Ben Menashe at the Royal Auto Club in
London on November 3, 2001 (Exhibit 13) also failed to show Mr Tsvangirai requesting the assassination of Mr Mugabe. However, your program, relying on Mr Ben Menashe, claimed that it did.
Would you now consider that you should correct this point, or at least indicate that Mr Ben Menashe cannot provide corroboration of his claim about this point?
Evidence of Tara Thomas
Ms Tara Thomas, the personal assistant of Mr Ben Menashe, attended the November 3, and December 4, 2001 meetings. Her police statement (Exhibit 28) failed to support Mr Ben Menashe’s allegation of the plot to assassinate Mr Mugabe being discussed at the December 4 meeting. Under examination by the Prosecution, Ms Thomas did not resile from her police statement in that regard.
The audio tape transcript of the November 3, 2001, meeting failed to support her statement that an assassination was discussed right at the start of that meeting. The tape transcript certainly did not support Mr Ben Menashe’s evidence that the murder of Mr Mugabe and a coup were discussed throughout the meeting, as well as before and after the meeting.
Here is an excerpt from the Police Statement of Ms Thomas, sworn on February 22, 2003, regarding the December 4, 2001 meeting:
14. The meeting was chaired by MR SIMMS who wanted to hear from MORGAN TSVANGIRAI what his intentions were. MORGAN TSVANGIRAI sought to discuss transitional period. MR ARI BEN MENASHE asked TSVANGIRAI to be clear about what was to transpire to bring about the transition and whether this was after the elimination of ROBERT MUGABE.
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15. MORGAN TSVANGIRAI responded by saying that he was not prepared to discuss the issue and appeared upset, at that point he got up from the table and asked RUPERT JOHNSON to join him outside. When they came back MORGAN TSVANGIRAI appeared more at ease and continued the discussion.
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16. The topics covered were various aspects of transition including military support, international support and how to convince the Vice President to agree to a coalition Government. He was of the opinion that certain elements in the military, particularly Air Vice Marshall Shiri would support his bid for a coalition government.
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Zimbabwe government paid for the video tape
On the evidence of the Deputy Director-General of the Department of National Security, retired Brigadier Bonyongwe, Dickens & Madson were paid the following sums by the government of Zimbabwe:
- US$30,000 Nov 30 / Dec 4, 2001
- US$200,000 Dec 2001
- US$385,000 early 2002
No invoices, receipts or vouchers for these payments were produced by Dickens & Madson or the Zimbabwe Department of National Security.
The first $30,000 was paid directly into the bank trust account of the wife of Mr Ben Menashe - $20,000 on November 30, and $10,000 on December 4, 2001. Of this first payment, US$5,000 was paid to Mr Schober, who installed the video camera and microphone on December 2, 2001, for making the tape of the December 4, 2001 meeting in Montreal. He was paid US$ cash. Ms Thomas’ evidence was that the highest quote for that job was C$3,000.
The evidence of Ms Thomas confirmed that MDC and then the government of Zimbabwe were the only clients of Dickens & Madson at the time.
Dateline was not aware at the time that the government of Zimbabwe was paying Dickens & Madson to create the video tape of the meeting with Mr Tsvangirai. But this is now clear. Therefore, would you now consider reporting this to your audience, since it casts a new light on your original story?
Mr Mugabe never in danger
Despite Mr Ben Menashe’s claim that he was asked in London on October 22, 2001, and again on November 3, 2001, to arrange the assassination of President Mugabe, he did not report this to the Zimbabwean authorities until November 21 or 22, according to the evidence of Air Vice Marshall Mhlanga. The Air Vice Marshall was concerned at the delay in reporting the alleged plot. At a meeting on November 23, 2001, Mhlanga and others said they were not satisfied with the content of the audio tape, and asked Mr Ben Menashe for further evidence. There is no evidence that the plot was ever reported to the British police, or that the Canadian police were informed of the December 4, 2001 meeting in Montreal.
The evidence is that Rupert Johnston and Ms Thomas, for Dickens & Madson, agitated for MDC to make its payment of US$100,000 on its lobbying contract signed on October 23, 2001, and received these funds before making the report to the Zimbabwean authorities. Even with the video tapes of December 4, 2001, the Zimbabwean authorities took no action until a week after the screening of the Dateline program - on February 20, 2002, - which was right in the presidential election campaign period.
This timing strongly indicates that there was no genuine threat to the life of President Mugabe, but that the treason allegation was related to the political struggle for the presidency of Zimbabwe.
This new information which came to light through the 2003 treason trial suggests that Dateline was manipulated by the Zimbabwean government for domestic political purposes, which have put the life of Mr Tsvangirai at risk, and have contributed to the sharp economic slump, and political and social crisis in Zimbabwe, with attendant great human cost in lives and suffering.
I put it to you that it would be responsible journalism to respond to this new information by making a new report that informs the public of these developments and mitigates the ongoing persecution of Mr Tsvangirai in the treason trial, which is now underway with the defence case being put.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Murphy
Secretary
Excerpts from the transcript of the December 4, 2001 video tape
Transcript Exhibit 18
09.00.58
"ABM: No, the presence of the Minister is one thing and the wishes of the people is another but my question is, if there is a breakdown of power in Zimbabwe before the elections, will he back you?
MT: It depends what kind of power breakdown.
ABM: The President is eliminated.
MT: If the President goes then there is a Vice President.
ABM: Yes.
MT: Who is supposed to take over in terms of the Constitution after three months.
ABM: So what are we talking about?
09.01.35
MT: We are talking about an arrangement where, if Mugabe goes the Vice-President takes over and within three months there will be elections that is the constitutional arrangement."
09.07.39
MT: The discussion was never about the elimination of Mugabe it was about the election and the post election outcome.
09.09.34
MT: … As far as I am concerned the arrangements and discussions so far were based on th election process. It is now a new scenario, then we have to re-look at that.
09.11.58
ABM: Look, look sorry, we are not hired guns. Neither are they going to murder Mugabe and then assassiante or eliminate or whatever and then come and say OK now there is a constitutional process …
09.13.06
MT: The agreement really is when we last met at the RAC Club we agreed that the route we were going to take was that if Mugabe goes there will be a transitional government but the method of implementation was not discussed.
09.31.28
MT: But I would also underline the fact that P… Shiri must be brought on board not on the question of the elimination of Mugabe but on the fact that they have to guarantee a peaceful transition … the whole point is to bring them on board now, tell them that there is nothing to fear, the guarantees are that there will be no retributions so go along and support the democratic transitional process. That’s the mechanism of this.
09.37.32
MT: I will tell you one thing, the most serious concern in Zimbabwe is that if Mugabe goes into the election then there will be mayhem, and I think that emphasises that removing Mugabe aside creates more opportunities and those opportunities can only be created when the party is given room to do it, sit down and come out with a solution that is not suspicious that is applicable and which can lead to an election down the road."
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