Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai was confident that he would be the driver of policy in the new government of national unity because he was going to chair the Council of Ministers.
He told this to the United States ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGhee and the British ambassador to Zimbabwe Andrew Pocock three days before the signing of the Global Political Agreement which the leaders of the three key political parties had agreed to.
Tsvangirai said the Council of Ministers would formulate policy which it would pass to the cabinet for implementation.
President Robert Mugabe was going to chair the cabinet but was not a member of the Council of Ministers.
Because of this, Tsvangirai said he would be able to effect a fundamental change in the culture of government despite the admitted imperfections of this structure.
He said that the Council of Ministers would be the driver of policy, and that even ZANU-PF members of government would welcome the opportunity to discuss policy issues freely without President Mugabe in attendance.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 08HARARE828, AN IMPERFECT DEAL BUT THE ONLY ONE ON OFFER
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Reference ID |
Created |
Released |
Classification |
Origin |
VZCZCXRO1464
OO RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0828/01 2561028
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 121028Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3428
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 2285
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 2405
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0924
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1682
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 2038
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 2459
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 4891
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFISS/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1554
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000828
SIPDIS
AF/S FOR G. GARLAND
DRL FOR N. WILETT
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR E. LOKEN AND L. DOBBINS
STATE PASS TO NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B. PITTMAN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2018
SUBJECT: AN IMPERFECT DEAL BUT THE ONLY ONE ON OFFER
REF: HARARE 793 AND PREV
Classified By: Ambassador James D. McGee for reason 1.4 (d)
¶1. (C) Summary: On September 11 Mbeki announced a deal was
reached in Zimbabwean power-sharing negotiations. On
Septeptember 12 Tsvangirai briefed Ambassador and UK
Ambassador Pocock on the deal. Tsvangirai was extremely
confident that his chairmanship of a newly-created Council of
Ministers will allow him to control government, despite
President Mugabe’s continued chairmanship of Cabinet.
Although the deal has serious deficiencies, it could
represent an opportunity for progress. The test will be to
see whether Tsvangirai manages to push through his agenda in
the next few weeks. End summary.
——–
THE DEAL
——–
¶2. (C) On September 11, Thabo Mbeki, SADC-appointed
Facilitator of Zimbabwe’s political negotiations, announced
that an agreement had been reached between President Robert
Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara. Mbeki said
the agreement would be formally signed on Monday after
further decisions were reached over the weekend concerning
the composition of an “inclusive government.”
¶3. (C) On September 12, an ebullient Tsvangirai briefed
Ambassador and UK Ambassador Pocock. The new government will
include two new bodies. In addition to the cabinet, there
will be a “Council of Ministers” that Tsvangirai will chair.
The Council of Ministers will formulate policy which it will
then pass to the Cabinet for implementation. It appears that
the Cabinet and Council will have similar composition, with
one significant exception: Mugabe and his Deputy Presidents
will not be members of the Council of Ministers. Mugabe will
chair the Cabinet, which is supposed to implement policy on
the basis of consensus. Tsvangirai will serve as Deputy
Chair of the Cabinet. The third organ will be a National
Security Council, which will include Tsvangirai, his two
Deputies, Mugabe, his two Deputies, and unspecified others,
presumably to include the Ministers of Defense and Home
Affairs.
¶4. (C) The government will include 31 Ministers (15 ZANU-PF,
13 MDC-T and 3 MDC-M) and 15 Deputy Ministers (8 ZANU-PF, 6
MDC-T and 1 MDC-M). Arthur Mutambara has been allocated one
of the two Deputy Prime Minister positions. Tsvangirai told
Ambassador that decisions on the division of Ministries will
be concluded over the wekend, but that he would insist on
MDC-M control of Home Affairs, which is in charge of the
police. Tsvangirai also indicated that he wants Finance,
Communications and Social Affairs, but focused on Home
Affairs as a “deal-breaker.”
¶5. (C) A 19th Amendment to the existing Zimbabwean
constitution will be enacted immediately to create this new
structure; an entirely new constitution will be agreed and
presented for ratification in 18 months. At that same time,
a decision will be reached on whether to allow the “inclusive
government” to fulfill a normal 5-year term, or whether to go
to new elections.
———————–
TSVANGIRAI’S CONFIDENCE
———————–
¶6. (C) Tsvangirai expressed confidence that he will be able
to effect a fundamental change in the culture of government
despite the admitted imperfections of this structure. He
HARARE 00000828 002 OF 003
said that the Council of Ministers would be the driver of
policy, and that even ZANU-PF members of government would
welcome the opportunity to discuss policy issues freely
without President Mugabe in attendance. Tsvangirai said that
his willingness to make the compromises necessary to conclude
this agreement was influenced by “the plight of the people,”
but admitted that implementation will be key. He also
expressed awareness that he would be held politically
responsible for government nonperformance in areas such as
lifing of sanctions and the swift turn around of the economy.
¶7. (C) Tsvangirai described the immediate priorities for the
government and for international assistance as:
–Provision of food to the hungry;
–Distribution of agricultural inputs in time for planting,
even if air lifting supplies is required;
–Assistance to social service providers, e.g. provision of
medicines to hospitals; and
–Assistance to reform (and downsize) the security services.
Additional priorities for the next few months include:
–Reform of the economy;
–Restoration of the rule of law; and
–Reintroduction of freedom of the press.
Tsvangirai said among the first measures he would seek would
be the conduct of a forensic audit of the reserve bank and a
National Security Council review of the functioning of the
Central Intelligence Organization.
—————————–
CAUTIOUS RESPONSE APPROPRIATE
—————————–
¶8. (C) Ambassador and Ambassador Pocock told Tsvangirai that
he should expect our governments to respond cautiously.
Tsvangirai said he fully understood that we would need to see
evidence of successful implementation, given our justified
distrust of Mugabe. Pocock told Tsvangirai that we would
seek to support him personally, but if he should strive to
demonstrate to the international community that he is in
control. Tsvangirai agreed. Ambassador and Pocock
reiterated our policy of reengagement only on the basis of
performance.
¶9. (C) Comment: Our initial impression is that this deal has
holes in it big enough to drive a tank through. Tsvangirai
said he had no idea what the attitude to this was of the JOC
(Joint Operations Command–the security force body that has
dominated government since March elections). The division of
Ministries has not yet been determined. And Tsvangirai was
unable to reconcile the notion that the cabinet would act by
consensus, yet Mugabe would not have a veto. Tsvangirai told
Ambassador that in his view, this deal leaves Mugabe with
only ceremonial powers. This is an odd perspective, since in
fact Mugabe remains both head of state and head of
government. (Mugabe may have already demonstrated a degree
of disdain. Tsvangirai and Mugabe were scheduled to meet at
11 am Friday to discuss government details; Mugabe postponed
the meeting.) In addition, Tsvangirai (not for the first
time) is failing to take into consideration the possibility
that at least some members of the Mutambara faction of the
MDC may not always align themselves with him.
Comment cont.: Nevertheless, this deal does provide
opportunities. Tsvangirai now has an opportunity to drive a
wedge between ZANU-PF hard-liners and moderates. If
Tsvangirai takes immediate steps to launch initiatives such
as an audit of the Reserve Bank or a review of the CIO
functions, we’ll have clear indications early on of whether
or not this represents a real change and how much power
Mugabe and his cronies have ceded. Post believes our best
HARARE 00000828 003 OF 003
policy to try to make this work remains our standing policy
of principles-based reengagement.
MCGEE
(5265 VIEWS)
