I wondered here whether Robert Mugabe had been an informant for CIA in the years prior to Zimbabwean Independence in 1980. If so, many strange events in Zimbabwean politics, before and after Independence, would be explained. The thought has now occurred to me that such a relationship, if it had existed, would also explain an odd trait of Mugabe’s personality in the period after his return from exile in December 1979. I realize my thoughts here are pure speculation, and, moreover, speculation about another person’s personality.
Because informants working for espionage agencies provide information on a regular basis to an employee of that agency, informants and their agents often develop quite close relationships. Each has a secret which he or she usually cannot tell to other relatives or friends or colleagues – informants cannot usually divulge their information-passing actions to those around them, and agents usually do not divulge the names of their informants to their fellow employees. Each also has to trust the other to some extent, and so the pair can develop quite a close relationship with one another; examples can be seen in Larry Devlin’s account of his close relationship with Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire, and Robert Baer’s account of his time working for CIA in the Middle East.
If our Robert had indeed been an informant (paid or unpaid) for CIA, then we would probably expect the agency to release him from that relationship when he was elected Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. If he had developed a close relationship with his agency handler, then becoming PM would mean he would no longer have a close, neutral confidant. Is this then why Mugabe became close to Lord Christopher Soames, the temporary Governor sent by Britain to oversee the election and the transfer of power at Independence? Their relationship became so close that Mugabe asked Soames to stay on (as Governor? as President?) for a couple of years after Independence, a request Soames declined. Is this also why Mugabe met weekly with his political enemy, Ian Smith, for about 18 months following Independence? Until it fell apart in 1981, their relationship was sufficiently close that they were able to dance with each other’s wives at official functions, such as the ball held for the African Parliamentary Union meeting in Zimbabwe in 1981.
The closeness of both these relationships (Mugabe-Soames, Mugabe-Smith) has always struck me as odd. But, if true, an ex-informant seeking another regular confidant could explain them both.
References:
Robert Baer [2002]: See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism. Crown Publishing Group.
Larry Devlin [ 2007]: Chief of Station, Congo. New York, NY, USA: Public Affairs.
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