2/21/02 2:07:41 AM (GMT +2)WITH just 15 days before Zimbabwe’s historic presidential election, a Canadian-based company Dickens and Madson has made startling claims that opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai wanted to hire it to assassinate President Robert Mugabe.
QUESTION (Q): Can you clarify what exactly went on between you and Ari Ben-Menashe and his Dickens and Madson company?
ANSWER (A): We have already issued a statement regarding our relationship with Dickens and Madson. The relationship did not arise out of our own initiative. We only got to know about Dickens and Madson through one Rupert Johnson who knew them and tried to link them with us so that they could act as a lobby group for us in North America.The subject of relationship with Dickens and Madson was that we (the MDC) should build contacts with the highest authority in Washington so that we could have a greater impact. Dickens and Madson claimed to know people higher up in the American administration so they were going to lobby these people on our behalf. Dickens and Madson also wanted to help promote internal contacts within Zimbabwe. Their position was that if the MDC were to win an election without the necessary contacts with people in powerful positions in the institutions of state, our position would be untenable. Of course Ben-Menashe has his own interpretation of events and the only way to resolve this would be to show the original tape recordings of the meetings showing who attended and who said what during those meetings. Anything else would just be an attempt to take people for a ride.
QUESTION (Q): Can you clarify what exactly went on between you and Ari Ben-Menashe and his Dickens and Madson company?
ANSWER (A): We have already issued a statement regarding our relationship with Dickens and Madson. The relationship did not arise out of our own initiative. We only got to know about Dickens and Madson through one Rupert Johnson who knew them and tried to link them with us so that they could act as a lobby group for us in North America.The subject of relationship with Dickens and Madson was that we (the MDC) should build contacts with the highest authority in Washington so that we could have a greater impact. Dickens and Madson claimed to know people higher up in the American administration so they were going to lobby these people on our behalf. Dickens and Madson also wanted to help promote internal contacts within Zimbabwe. Their position was that if the MDC were to win an election without the necessary contacts with people in powerful positions in the institutions of state, our position would be untenable. Of course Ben-Menashe has his own interpretation of events and the only way to resolve this would be to show the original tape recordings of the meetings showing who attended and who said what during those meetings. Anything else would just be an attempt to take people for a ride.