Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, a Movement for Democratic Change legislator, was appointed chair of the powerful Public Accounts Committee which is in charge of auditing all government finances.
She took over from the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front’s Reuben Marumahoko who was promoted to Deputy Minister of Energy and Power Development.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 02HARARE2128, PARLIAMENT AGENDA FOLLOWING ZANU-PF’S COURSE
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 002128
SIPDIS
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR CGURNEY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER
PARIS FOR NEARY
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2012
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENT AGENDA FOLLOWING ZANU-PF’S COURSE
REF: HARARE 01992
Classified By: POLITICAL OFFICER KIMBERLY JEMISON. REASONS 1.5(B) AND
(D)
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Parliament resumed September 10, after a
5-week adjournment, amid speculation that one of the top
ZANU-PF priorities would be a bill to amend the
constitutional requirement that presidential elections be
held within 90 days after a president vacates office.
ZANU-PF pushed through legislation to ease acquisition of
farms and will also try to push through legislation that will
curtail the ability of workers to strike and disenfranchise
thousands of voters. While not having a clear legislative
agenda of their own, the MDC will try to slow or stop the
passage of these bills and strengthen the role of the
parliamentary committees in the legislative process. END
SUMMARY.
————————————–
THE FIRST WEEK–ZANU-PF SETS THE STAGE
————————————–
¶2. (U) The first week of the Third Session of Parliament
began with the usual MDC protests and ZANU-PF manipulation of
parliamentary procedure. MDC MPs walked out of Parliament on
September 10 and 11 when debate started on President
Mugabe,s parliamentary opening speech in late July because
the MDC does not recognize him as the legitimate president of
Zimbabwe. Minister of Justice, Legal, and Parliamentary
Affairs and ZANU-PF’s leader in Parliament, Patrick Chinamasa
vowed that the government will come up with measures to deal
with opposition MPs who walk out of the House, adding that it
showed a lack of patriotism to take such action during a
Presidential speech. (NOTE: As we have previously reported,
the MDC is challenging Mugabe,s victory in court, citing
rigging and intimidation in the March presidential election.
The MDC boycotted Mugabe,s speech at the opening of
Parliament in late July. END NOTE.)
¶3. (U) The ruling party has used its parliamentary majority
to run roughshod over the substantial–but minority–MDC
presence. On September 11, the House passed a motion that
will minimize the MDC’s influence on the passage of the Land
Acquisition Amendment Bill by suspending various standing
rules which a bill must undergo before becoming law. This
was in response to the difficulty ZANU-PF has had in
providing a legal veneer for its land redistribution
exercise. Among the suspended orders was the requirement
bills be introduced 14 days after publication in the gazette
and that bills be referred to portfolio committees before
consideration by the full house. The House also suspended
the constitutional requirement that all bills be certified by
the Parliamentary Legal Committee. (NOTE: Parliament has a
history of suspending standing orders when the ZANU-PF
members feel they cannot pass legislation but it has never
tampered with constitutional requirements. Standing Orders
can only be suspended for one bill at a time. Only a simple
majority is necessary to suspend standing orders, whereas a
two-thirds vote is required for constitutional changes. END
NOTE.)
¶4. (U) On September 18, Parliament passed the Land
Acquisition Amendment Bill, three days after publishing it in
the gazette. Chinamasa moved to suspend the standing order
concerning automatic adjournment of the House at 6:55 PM so
that the bill could pass. The bill makes farm acquisitions
easier by reducing the number of days farmers have to vacate
their lands after a Section 8 compulsory acquisition notice
from 90 to 7. The amendment also relaxes the requirement
that an acquiring authority prove that rural lands are
suitable for agricultural resettlement if the acquired land
will be used for that purpose and if the land has been used
for agriculture purposes any time in the preceding 50 years.
In addition, fines for landowners who resist evictions would
increase five-fold from Z20,000 to Z100,000 (approximately
$145 at the parallel rate) and the Government would be able
reissue Section 8 orders, with much shorter vacancy times, to
replace previous invalid orders.
—————————————-
ZANU-PF WILL TRY TO SECURE EXECUTIVE POWER
—————————————-
¶5. (C) ZANU-PF will likely try to bolster its hold on power
by attempting to pass legislation that would stifle
dissenters and secure the presidency for the party after
President Mugabe’s departure. We have heard reports from a
variety of sources that ZANU-PF is trying to convince some
MDC MPs to vote in favor of a constitutional amendment
allowing an acting president for more than the
constitutionally allowed 90 days. ZANU-PF is seven votes
short of the two-thirds majority needed to push through any
constitutional amendment. (NOTE: Unlike other bills, a
constitutional amendment bill need not receive a stamp of
approval from the Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC). All
that is required is a two-thirds majority and that it be
published in the Gazette not less than 30 days before it is
introduced in Parliament. END NOTE.)
¶6. (C) In a meeting with Poloff on September 11, Victor
Chitongo, a ZANU-PF MP from Murehwa North in Mashonaland
East, confirmed that there is some truth to the rumors of a
constitutional amendment. He claimed that Mugabe would like
to retire in three years and was actually ready to retire
last year but was urged to stay on by several of his
appointed cabinet members (Patrick Chinamasa, Joseph Made,
and Jonathan Moyo). Chitongo claimed that if Mugabe were to
step down now, with no obvious successor, a nasty power
struggle would ensue. He also said there is some dissension
within ZANU-PF, generally along age lines, about who should
succeed Mugabe as ZANU-PF leader. Before Simba Makoni,s
dismissal from Cabinet and Parliament, he was a front-runner
for president among the younger set. Now only Speaker of
Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa is the only clear heir
apparent, and he is more favored by the old guard.
¶7. (C) COMMENT: ZANU-PF will have difficulty overcoming the
seven-vote deficit in the near-term. It is unlikely that any
of the MDC’s MPs will cross the aisle to vote with the ruling
party because of party loyalty. In addition, only one
by-election is currently scheduled to fill a seat left vacant
by the death of an MDC MP. The former incumbent won the seat
with 64 percent of the vote in 2000. We would not rule out
GOZ efforts to necessitate by-election by imprisoning MDC MPs
on trumped-up charges, but winning those would not be a sure
thing. MP Chitongo’s statement that Mugabe would like to
retire in three years suggests that he might be waiting until
after the next round of Parliamentary elections in the hopes
that ZANU-PF can acquire a two-thirds majority and change the
constitution at that time. END COMMENT.
—————————————–
OTHER BILLS TO TIGHTEN GOVERNMENT CONTROL
—————————————–
¶8. (C) ZANU-PF will also try to push through several other
controversial bills including the Labor Relations Amendment
Bill, published in the government gazette in November 2001,
which received an adverse report from the PLC in late July
and will need to be reworked. The Bill places major
restrictions on collective actions (strikes, boycotts,
sit-ins, etc.) that are not to address an employment related
demand or that are likely to cause prejudice to the
Zimbabwean economy. The Bill also gives the Minister of
Public Service, Labor, and Social Welfare the power to decide
whether a trade union, labor center or employers,
organization should be deregistered for recommending,
encouraging, inciting, organizing or associating itself with
an unlawful collective job action.
¶9. (C) Equally controversial is the Electoral Amendment Bill
that was referred to the PLC before Parliament recessed. The
Electoral Amendment Bill, gazetted in March 2002 after many
of its provisions were declared unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court, would impose a range of restrictions that
would disenfranchise many voters, prevent civic organizations
from engaging in voter education, limit election monitoring
and observation, and prevent posting of posters and other
campaign materials on walls, trees, etc. without the
permission of the owner. Under the Bill, only diplomatic
staff and defense force personnel will be able to vote by
absentee ballot, thereby depriving the large numbers of
Zimbabweans outside the country of their right to vote.
Proof of residency in a particular electoral constituency may
also disenfranchise boarders. (Ironically, six months after
the presidential elections in which many residents of
Malawian, Mozambican, and Zambian origin were disenfranchised
by electoral rules then enforced, Justice Minister Chinamasa
announced that long-time residents of Zimbabwe of SADC
country origin were to be permitted Zimbabwe citizenship.)
The Bill also restricts voter education to the
president-appointed Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC).
Any foreign donations for the purpose of voter education must
go through the ESC.
——————————————— ——–
PARLIAMENTARY REFORMS–TWO STEPS FORWARD ONE STEP BACK
——————————————— ——–
¶10. (C) Parliamentary reforms continue to move forward
particularly in the committee system but in the House
attempts to derail the process continue. The most recent
being Chinamasa’s motion to suspend the Standing Order that
the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill go to a portfolio
committee for review. In this case, he also suspended the
Standing Order for the Bill to go to the PLC, which is
unconstitutional. On September 19, the Budget and Finance
Committee held a public hearing to discuss the Value Added
Tax Bill (VAT). The hearing was well attended with several
groups making presentations that raised issues if the VAT
passes.
¶11. (U) In late August, while Parliament was in recess, the
Standing Rules and Orders Committee (SROC) appointed new
chairs for three of the 16 committees. The Committee gave two
reasons for the reappointments: to appoint some women as
chairpersons and to replace poor performers. The SROC
changed chairpersonships of the Public Accounts; Justice; and
Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation committees.
Women will head two committees, up from none last year, and
the MDC five, the same as last year. MDC MP Priscilla
Misihairabwi will chair the Public Accounts Committee (PAC),
replacing Reuben Marumahoko who was promoted to Deputy
Minister of Energy and Power Development. The PAC is the
auditing committee and, in regional countries, the
chairpersonship is traditionally held by the opposition . In
exchange for this, the MDC had to give up the chair to the
Justice Committee. Former Youth Development, Gender and
Employment Creation Committee Chair ZANU-PF MP Shedreck
Chipanga will assume the position from David Coltart.
ZANU-PF MP Esther Nyauchi will be the new Youth Development,
Gender and Employment Creation Committee Chair.
¶12. (C) The SROC completed half of what they set out to do.
They appointed more women to committee chair but did not
replace the poor performers who never held meetings,
boycotted training sessions, didn’t seem to grasp their role,
or used their positions as a platform for partisan purposes.
On this last score, ZANU-PF MPs Chiyangwa, Chapfika, and
Kasukuwere were the primary culprits.
—————————-
MDC PLAYING REACTIONARY ROLE
—————————-
¶13. (C) The MDC has no well-defined agenda for this session.
Their role has been and will continue to be reactionary.
They will try to block legislation that they feel is
unconstitutional and will try to bolster the power of the
portfolio committees. MDC MPs will also continue to subject
Executive Branch actions to closer public scrutiny.
COMMENT:
——–
¶14. (C) ZANU-PF will most likely push the proposed
legislation through Parliament using parliamentary
manipulations the MDC can do little to counter. MDC walkouts
do not stop the legislative process; they just make it easier
for ZANU-PF to move bills through Parliament. As long as the
MDC can keep from losing seats to ZANU-PF in by-elections,
they will be able to prevent a constitutional amendment
changing the succession rules.
SULLIVAN
(61 VIEWS)
