Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was caught by surprise when President Robert Mugabe reassigned a number of permanent secretaries without consulting him.
He said the move was illegal because Amendment 19 adopted to usher in the inclusive government clearly stated that the appointment of senior officials, including permanent secretaries was to be made by “the leadership in Government, comprising the President, the Vice-Presidents, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers” after consultation and agreement.
Tsvangirai said he was going to meet Mugabe over the issue.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 09HARARE149, TSVANGIRAI CHALLENGES ZANU-PF ACTIONS
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E.O. 12958: N/A
SUBJECT: TSVANGIRAI CHALLENGES ZANU-PF ACTIONS
¶1. (U) Today’s “The Herald” announced that Zimbabwean
president Robert Mugabe had reassigned a number of permanent
secretaries and would make additional appointments of
permanent secretaries in due course. Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai held a noon press conference, accompanied by
deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara, to address this and
other problematic issues.
¶2. (U) Tsvangirai said he had not been consulted about the
appointments. They were not legally made and were without
effect. (NOTE: Recently adopted Amendment 19 provides the
appointment of senior officials, including permanent
secretaries, to be made by “the leadership in Government,
comprising the President, the Vice-Presidents, the Prime
Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers” after consultation and
agreement. END NOTE.) He stated he would discuss this with
Mugabe tomorrow.
¶3. (U) Referring to the SADC Communique of January 27,
Tsvangirai said the appointments of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana, as
well as those of governors, should be dealt with immediately.
(NOTE: Tsvangirai’s position is that the appointments of
Gono and Tomana violated the September 15 Global Political
Agreement as they should have awaited the formation of the
new government. ZANU-PF and the MDC have agreed that six of
the 10 ZANU-PF governors should be replaced by five MDC-T
governors and one MDC-M governor, but this has not yet
occurred. END NOTE.)
¶4. (U) A spate of farm invasions has taken place within the
last few weeks. Tsvangirai said this was disruptive to
farming operations and the economy, and was in violation of
the rule of law. He was directing the Ministers of Home
Affairs to bring the weight of the law against those
responsible in order to end a “culture of impunity and
entitlement.”
¶5. (U) Turning to political detainees, Tsvangirai said he
had met with Mugabe last week and that the president had
agreed that those charged be released on bail, and that those
not charged be released unconditionally. The Attorney
General was “willfully obstructing” release of detainees by
abusing the appeals process.
¶6. (U) Tsvangirai concluded by saying that he was encouraged
by the momentum the government was developing toward finding
a solution to the country’s problems.
——-
COMMENT
——-
¶7. (SBU) Despite Mugabe’s “offer of friendship and
solidarity” to work with Tsvangirai made at Tsvangirai’s
inauguration, the appointment of permanent secretaries is a
provocative act which, combined with continued detentions, is
clear evidence of bad faith. While there are press reports
indicating that the MDC is considering pulling out of the
government in response, this does not appear, however, to be
the case. To his credit, Tsvangirai is confronting ZANU-PF
backsliding publicly and also directly with Mugabe. Whether
Tsvangirai can pressure ZANU-PF and Mugabe to respond
appropriately is another question. END COMMENT.
Q
MCGEE
(36 VIEWS)
