Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai on 18 December 2002 accused Britain and South Africa of working with elements in the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front the maintain ZANU-PF’s hold on power.
In a statement he said “…a cabal within ZANU-PF, working with some businessmen, have hatched a plan to protect Mugabe and his regime, for political convenience, through a further militarization of Zimbabwe.
One Colonel Dyke and his business associates are being used to promote an agenda that seeks to legitimize the rogue regime. The names of Emmerson Mnangagwa and General Zvinavashe keep on coming up in this dirty plan which we are told was endorsed by ZANU-PF, the British and the South Africans.”
Full cable:
Viewing cable 02HARARE2829, TSVANGIRAI LEVELS ACCUSATIONS AGAINST BRITAIN AND
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C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 002829
SIPDIS
LONDON FOR CGURNEY
PARIS FOR CNEARY
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JENDAYI FRAZER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2012
SUBJECT: TSVANGIRAI LEVELS ACCUSATIONS AGAINST BRITAIN AND
SOUTH AFRICA
Classified By: political section chief Matt Harrington. Reasons: 1.5 (
B) and (D).
¶1. (C) In a move that could create quite a firestorm,
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai
issued a press statement on December 18 accusing the British
and South African governments of working in cahoots with
certain elements of ZANU-PF to maintain the ruling party’s
hold on power. In his statement, Tsvangirai said “…a cabal
within ZANU-PF, working with some businessmen, have hatched a
plan to protect Mugabe and his regime, for political
convenience, through a further militarization of Zimbabwe.
One Colonel Dyke (sic) and his business associates are being
used to promote an agenda that seeks to legitimize the rogue
regime. The names of (Speaker of Parliament and ZANU-PF
Secretary of Administration) Emmerson Mnangagwa and
SIPDIS
(Commander of the Defense Forces) General Zvinavashe keep on
coming up in this dirty plan which we are told was endorsed
by ZANU-PF, the British and the South Africans.” Tsvangirai
goes on to say that this effort is intended to be
kick-started by a meeting between himself and Robert Mugabe
outside the country, but warns that “the Anglo-South African
plan will fail to take off if it remains predicated on the
desire to legitimize the illegitimate Mugabe regime.
¶2. (C) Comment: Tsvangirai clearly has heard of efforts by
several different parties to broker a political way forward
and has assumed they are all part and parcel of the same
initiative. It is unclear why he decided to shine the public
spotlight on these efforts now. We surmise that he wanted to
avoid being presented with a political solution that involved
token MDC membership in a ZANU-PF government as a fait
accompli, and being portrayed as the intransigent party for
refusing to endorse such an approach. It will be interesting
to see how the Zimbabwean and South African governments react
to Tsvangirai’s statement. What seems a likely consequence
is that South Africa and other potential political brokers
might pull back from peace-making efforts in the near-term.
End Comment.
South African efforts on Zimbabwe
——————————————— —-
¶3. (C) Prior to the issuance of Tsvangirai’s statement, his
senior advisor, Gandi Mudzingwa, received a call from
President Mbeki’s office the night of December 17, asking
whether Tsvangirai was prepared to travel outside of Zimbabwe
to meet with President Mugabe. The caller said the SAG could
arrange for the temporary return of Tsvangirai’s passport,
seized when the MDC leader was charged with treason for
allegedly planning Mugabe’s assassination. Mudzingwa
subsequently sought additional details from the intelligence
chief at the South African High Commission in Harare, who
said he was not fully briefed on this initiative. The South
African intelligence officer, however, reported that Foreign
Minister Zuma was planning a trip to Harare in the next week
or two to meet with Tsvangirai and Emmerson Mnangagwa.
¶4. (C) Meanwhile, we know that Father Fidelis Mukonori, who
has on several past occasions attempted to broker dialogue
between President Mugabe and the MDC, has once again begun to
feel out both sides on their willingness to talk. He has
not, however, put a concrete proposal on the table. Mukonori
had not spoken with senior MDC leaders in quite some time
until contacting Mudzingwa to arrange a meeting on December
¶18. We will get a readout of that conversation and report it
septel.
SULLIVAN
(41 VIEWS)
