Opposition plotted to kill Mugabe - claim

An Australian television station today accused Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe and take power in a coup.

SBS television’s Dateline programme aired a secretly filmed meeting in which the station says Morgan Tsvangirai, president of the Movement for Democratic Change, discussed plans to kill the president.

‘‘The whole thing is contrived,’’ Tsvangirai said today.

He refused to comment further, but opposition spokesman Learnmore Jongwe said Tsvangirai ‘‘has no plan desire or motive to eliminate President Mugabe. The MDC president believes in a peaceful and constitutional transfer of power through the ballot box.’’

Zimbabwe has been wracked by political violence over the past two years that human rights workers, opposition officials and international observers blame mainly on ruling party thugs’ efforts to intimidate opposition supporters.

Tsvangirai himself has been the target of several assassination attempts blamed on ruling party henchmen.

According to the TV report, Tsvangirai also discussed plans for a smooth transition in Zimbabwe at the meeting at a political consultancy firm in Montreal, Canada.

The firm says it is now working for the Zimbabwean government, according to the report.

The surveillance tape, which Dateline said was shot on December 4, shows an aerial view of four men sitting around a boardroom table. However, the black and white picture is grainy and the faces of the men - including the one named as Tsvangirai were largely obscured.

Dateline said the meeting was called to discuss the transition to power after a coup and Mugabe’s assassination.

‘‘The MDC, represented by the top man who’s sitting here right now, commits to ... the coup d’etat or the elimination of the President,’’ a representative of the firm said on the tape.

Later in the tape, the person identified as Tsvangirai said: ‘‘We have moved so far we can now definitely say that Mugabe is going to be eliminated. But what is the transitional arrangement?’’

According to the report Tsvangirai had previously asked the consultants to assassinate Mugabe in exchange for money and the promise of future government contracts.

The opposition said the story was part of an ongoing government smear campaign against the party, a campaign intended to distract people from the important issues of joblessness, Aids and food shortages.

‘‘The people of Zimbabwe are now tired of these baseless stories,’’ Jongwe said in a statement.