The Commission set up by the anti-Senate faction of the Movement for Democratic Change to investigate the attack on Trudy Stevenson, a member of Parliament who belonged to the pro-Senate faction, concluded that the Central Intelligence Organisation and police most likely assaulted Stevenson.
The chairman of the Commission, Happias Zhou, said that the sophisticated nature of the attack and the remarkably swift manner of the police response led the commission to its conclusion.
He said that seven suspects charged with the attack appeared to be unconnected to the assault and to have been coerced by police.
Zhou said that the commission also developed two alternative, albeit less likely, scenarios.
The commission could not rule out the possibility that anti-Senate MDC MP Timothy Mubawu orchestrated the attack to prevent the other opposition faction from making inroads into his constituency.
Just before the attack, Mubawu, who had a reputation as a dirty politician, had declared Tafara-Mabvuku a “no-go” area for the pro-Senate faction.
The commission could not rule out the possibility that district-level anti-Senate MDC officials, who had long-standing disagreements with Mubawu, carried out the attack to tarnish the local MP by implicating him in the violence.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 06HARARE1164, STEVENSON ATTACK COMMISSION POINTS FINGER AT GOZ
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Reference ID |
Created |
Released |
Classification |
Origin |
VZCZCXRO6120
RR RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #1164/01 2641507
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 211507Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0621
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 1320
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 1170
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 1324
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0081
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0585
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 0950
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1378
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 3752
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1147
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 1795
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUFGNOA/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1541
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001164
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
AF/S FOR S.HILL
SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2015
TAGS: ASEC ECON PGOV PHUM PREL ZI
SUBJECT: STEVENSON ATTACK COMMISSION POINTS FINGER AT GOZ
REF: REFTEL: HARARE 933 AND PREVIOUS
Classified By: Ambassador Christopher Dell for reasons 1.5 b/d
——-
Summary
——-
¶1. (SBU) Anti-Senate leader Morgan Tsvangirai held a Press
Conference September 20 to announce the findings of the
commission appointed by the anti-Senate MDC to investigate
the July 2 attack on pro-Senate MDC MP Trudy Stevenson.
According to Tsvangirai, the commission concluded that GOZ
security forces most likely were behind the attack. In a
private conversation with us, the CommissionQ,s Chairman said
the report does indeed blame the GOZ. However, he said it
does not rule out the possibility that local anti-Senate MDC
elements were involved in the attack, albeit possibly as a
result of GOZ infiltration and manipulation of the MDC.
While he publicly embraced the reportQ,s evidence of a state
conspiracy, Tsvangirai has rejected some of the commission’s
critical findings concerning his and his factionQ,s
responsibility for violence. The state-controlled media’s
account of the report, meanwhile, falsely claims the report
blames Tsvangirai for the attack. Finally, the pro-Senate
faction of the MDC continues to dismiss the commission and by
extension its report as biased. End Summary.
——————————————
Commission Concludes State Likely CulpritQ(
——————————————
¶2. (SBU) Commission Chairman Happias Zhou told poloff on
September 19 the commission had concluded that the Central
Intelligence Organization and police most likely assaulted
the pro-Senate MDC officials on July 2 (reftel). Zhou said
that the sophisticated nature of the attack and the
remarkably swift manner of the police response led the
commission to its conclusion. Zhou added that the seven
suspects charged with the attack appeared to be unconnected
to the assault and to have been coerced by police. (N.B. The
seven are currently on bail and are awaiting a High Court
decision on their application to remove the magistrate
presiding over their trail, whom they accuse of bias.)
¶3. (SBU) Zhou said the commission also found a high level of
intelligence and police infiltration of the local MDC
structures, which further pointed to the state’s involvement,
according to Zhou. During its investigation, the commission
discovered that opposition figures at both the district and
provincial levels Q) the commission did not investigate the
national level Q) maintained frequent contact with supposedly
sympathetic elements of the CIO and police. Zhou said that
these contacts were naQve and gave the state avenues to
manipulate the opposition. Many of the commission’s
recommendations focused on tightening security and preventing
such infiltrations.
—————————————–
(But Cannot Dismiss Local MDC Involvement
—————————————–
¶4. (SBU) Zhou said that the commission also developed two
alternative, albeit less likely scenarios. The commission
could not rule out the possibility that anti-Senate MDC MP
Mubawu orchestrated the attack to prevent the other
opposition faction from making inroads into his constituency.
Just before the attack, Mubawu, who has a reputation as a
dirty politician, had declared Tafara-Mabvuku a “no-go” area
for the pro-Senate faction. Likewise, the commission could
not rule out the possibility that district-level anti-Senate
HARARE 00001164 002 OF 002
MDC officials, who had long-standing disagreements with
Mubawu, carried out the attack to tarnish the local MP by
implicating him in the violence.
————————————-
Commission Findings Spun By All Sides
————————————-
¶5. (SBU) At a diplomatic briefing to announce the
commission’s findings on September 21, anti-Senate MDC
President Tsvangirai said the report ) which he promised
would be available shortly – unequivocally showed that the
CIO carried out the attack. Tsvangirai, however, said that
he disagreed with some of the commission’s findings, such as
the commission’s criticism of the party’s handling of past
incidents of violence and its perpetrators.
¶6. (SBU) Meanwhile, the state-controlled Herald newspaper on
September 21 ran a front page headline falsely claiming that
the “MDC probe nails Tsvangirai” and proceeds to blame the
opposition leader for fanning violence. The report quoted
Stevenson as saying that Tsvangirai could not be absolved
because the attackers accused her of deserting him. The
Herald also claimed the report found that weaknesses in
Tsvangirai’s leadership led to the attack.
SIPDIS
¶7. (SBU) For its part, the pro-Senate faction, which did not
have a part in appointing the commission and has been
critical of it, dismissed the commission’s finding that the
anti-Senate leadership was not to blame. Pro-Senate
spokesman Chaibva was quoted in the independent media saying
that the pro-Senate faction did not “wish to waste time on
the self-serving and cleansing exercise whose findings we
have always maintained were predetermined.”
——-
Comment
——-
¶8. (C) Although discounted and distorted by the pro-Senate
faction and the GOZ, we have always believed the commission
to be credible. The three lawyers on the body, all of whom
are well known to the Embassy, are widely respected
throughout the legal community. Furthermore, after its
establishment, the commission received no financial support
or instructions from the MDC. Tsvangirai’s response to the
report ) including his chaffing at the report’s criticisms
and his failure to embrace openly and clearly the calls for
changes within his party ) as well as the party’s
inexplicable delays in its release may be disappointing but
are further proof of the commissionQ,s independence and of
its reportQ,s credibility. We find it entirely plausible
that the CIO was behind the attack, though perhaps through
the agency of some MDC types under their influence.
¶9. (C) In that regard, it should not have come as a
revelation that the CIO and police had infiltrated the
opposition. What was interesting, however, was ZhouQ,s take
on how they had accomplished this penetration, not through
bribery and stealth as one might assume but rather through
regular contact. While there are no doubt genuinely
sympathetic voices in the state apparatus that give valuable
intelligence to the opposition, the commission report should
serve as a wake up call for opposition leaders to take
greater caution in dealing with the CIO and other security
organs.
DELL
(27 VIEWS)
