President Robert Mugabe’s former spin doctor Jonathan Moyo, sacked earlier this year for defying Zimbabwe’s ruling party, is working on a book about his time in government, a newspaper reported Friday.
Once seen as Mugabe’s blue-eyed boy, the former information minister has become a fierce critic of the Zimbabwean government.
Moyo, a member of Mugabe’s cabinet for nearly five years, was sacked in February when he chose to stand as an independent candidate in March parliamentary polls, a move that saw him winning a seat in a remote rural constituency.
Moyo has promised to reveal the inner workings of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union — Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party in his book, the Zimbabwe Independent reported.
”It would be a betrayal of my profession as a trained academic not to write a book of my memoirs and experiences while in government and of state policies and their implications for the country and for Africa as a whole,” Moyo, a professor of political science, told the paper.
The US-trained academic, who is searching for a publisher says he wants the book published before the end of the year.
”The book will be about everything I did before joining government, the reasons that led me to join government and Zanu-PF, the actual dynamics in government and in Zanu-PF,” the Zimbabwe Independent quoted him as saying.
Moyo was a staunch government critic before he joined the government. But during his time as information minister, Moyo became an ardent supporter of Mugabe’s controversial policies, including the forcible seizure of white-owned land, and a vociferous critic of the West, particularly former colonial power Britain.
He also crafted tough press laws — the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) – that that were responsible for closing down four independent newspapers.
Since leaving government Moyo is reported to have become popular as a speaker at civil rights meetings in the Zimbabwe capital. – Sapa-DPA