A decorated former Rhodesian soldier is at the centre of an internationally backed plan to coax Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to meet with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, officials said this week.
The plan also involves South Africa and Britain.
The soldier, retired Colonel Lionel Dyke — who attained recognition for his military exploits under Mugabe’s post-independence government — approached Tsvangirai shortly before Christmas to initiate talks between his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Mugabe’s governing Zanu-PF, party officials said.
Dyke, according to MDC and Zanu-PF officials, said his mission had the blessing of senior Zanu-PF leaders, such as the party’s powerful secretary for administration and Speaker of the House, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa, a former security minister and head of the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), is touted as a possible successor to the ageing Zimbabwean leader.
The officials said Tsvangirai spurned the offer for the new talks, brushing them off as another attempt to legitimise the Zanu-PF government’s disputed electoral victory during the presidential election last year.
Tsvangirai is challenging the Zanu-PF leader’s victory in the courts, alleging that Mugabe used strong-arm tactics to cow the electorate to vote for him. Tsvangirai’s assertion is supported by Western countries such as the United States and Britain.
Addressing MDC legislators in Harare last month Tsvangirai said: ”The names of Emmerson Mnangagwa and General Vitalis Zvinavashe keep on coming up in the plan which we are told was endorsed by Zanu-PF, the British and the South Africans.”
Zvinavashe, a former guerilla leader under Mugabe during the war for independence, is the commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
Analysts said the latest move was part of a plan to solve the current impasse by introducing new constitutional changes that would prepare for Mugabe’s graceful exit and allow Zimbabwe to shed its pariah status.
Attempts to contact Dyke for comment were unsuccessful.