All the Wikileaks cables on Zimbabwe

201-Amnesty International and its love-hate relationship with Mugabe and Mutasa

Amnesty International seems to be in a quandary over its relationship with Zimbabwe. In the 1970s the human rights organisation adopted Robert Mugabe and Didymus Mutasa, among other combatants, as “prisoners of conscience”.

 

202-Prosecutor told US official that Tomana was scared of Jestina Mukoko’s case

A State prosecutor in the case of human rights activist Jestina Mukoko is said to have told a United States embassy official that attorney-general Johannes Tomana and the government’s chief prosecutor Florence Ziyambi were scared of Mukoko’s case.

 

203-Mutasa, Chinamasa, Mohadi sued for $19.2 million

Former Minister of State for Security Didymus Mutasa, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi together with other top security officers were sued for $19.2 million by 15 Movement for Democratic Change activists who claimed they had been abducted, detained and deprived of their liberty.

 

204-Zimbabwe riskiest investment destination?

Zimbabwe was ranked the riskiest investment destination in 2009 along with Afghanistan by United States credit rating company Dun and Bradstreet, according to one of the cables released by Wikileaks. The report cited “economic, political, commercial, external, and political Insecurity”.

 

205-Jethro Goko lobbied Zuma to be tough on Mugabe

Zimbabwean journalist Jethro Goko is reported to have lobbied South African President Jacob Zuma to be tougher on President Robert Mugabe. At the time Zuma was not yet the country’s president but was president of the ruling African National Congress.

 

206-Masiyiwa, Takawira and Goko tried to ease Mugabe out

Econet boss Strive Masiyiwa, Eton Capital executive and former Barclays Bank managing director Isaac Takawira, Triumph Venture Capital chief executive Wellington Chadehumbe and Johnnic Communications executive Jethro Goko have now been identified as the four exiled Zimbabwean businessmen who floated the idea of trying to ease President Robert Mugabe out way back in 2007 and replace him with a technocratic Prime Minister.

 

207-Mutasa says Jonathan Moyo is an asset to ZANU-PF

Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa has described former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo as an “important asset” to the party.

 

208-Some rich journalist!

Andrisson Manyere a freelance journalist who has made more headlines from his arrests than from his journalistic work seems to be doing quite well –moneywise. According to a diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks Manyere had US$4 500, a laptop computer, three cell phones and digital camera when he was abducted by security agents in December 2008.

 

209-VP Mujuru refused to pay workers minimum wage says union leader

New farmers including Vice-President Joice Mujuru were refusing to pay farm workers the agreed minimum wage according to the secretary general of the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe Gertrude Hambira.

 

210-Zvobgo Jnr and Jonathan Moyo differ on future of VP Mujuru

Eddison Zvobgo Junior believed that President Robert Mugabe could step down and allow Vice-President Joice Mujuru to stand as president in 2008 provided she could protect him from prosecution but Mugabe’s former spin doctor Jonathan Moyo thought that he was not going to step down until 2010 but might change the constitution to create the post of Prime Minister for Mujuru.

 

211-Jonathan Moyo says Mandela asked Mugabe to step down in 2007

Former South African President Nelson Mandela asked President Robert Mugabe to step down in 2007 so that he could preserve his legacy as a liberation hero but Mugabe is reported to have disparaged Mandela as a “Western puppet”.

 

212-Was Ibbo Mandaza the public voice of Mujuru?

Political commentator and former publisher of the Mirror newspapers group Ibbo Mandaza was the public voice of former army Commander Solomon Mujuru, United States embassy officials said in a cable released by Wikileaks. “Mandaza is a long-time ZANU-PF stalwart. He is now a confidante of, and advisor to, Solomon Mujuru….Mandaza is a public voice of Solomon Mujuru. He is convinced Mugabe will leave office soon; the question is when,” the cables says.

 

213-Mujuru and Mutasa clash over farm evictions

State Security and Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa’s efforts to evict the remaining white commercial farmers four years ago were met with stiff resistance from the country’s two Vice-Presidents, Joseph Msika and Joice Mujuru.

 

214-Why no one in ZANU-PF is challenging Mugabe

Though most members of the Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front, especially those from the Mujuru faction, have wanted President Robert Mugabe to go for some time, Mugabe has managed to maintain his control over the party through patronage and fear, according to Wikileaks.

 

215-Mugabe has dossiers on the illegal activities of his colleagues- Wikileaks

President Robert Mugabe is keeping his lieutenants in line because he has dossiers on their illegal activities which he can use to get them arrested should they challenge him.

 

216-Mt Darwin has not benefitted from Mujuru’s vice-presidency

A public opinion poll, three weeks before the 2008 elections, showed that the Movement for Democratic Change was rapidly gaining support with its leader Morgan Tsvangirai pipping President Robert Mugabe and the general feeling was that people were yearning for change because they believed that ZANU-PF could no longer turn around the country’s economy.

 

217-Is not winning, losing?

United States embassy officials in Harare were confident that President Robert Mugabe had not won the 2008 elections, the very first day of the count, but at the same time they were not certain that Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai had received over 50 percent of the vote.

 

218-US officials given cold shoulder in Mujuru’s constituency

United States embassy officials deployed 11 teams to observe elections on March 29 and all reported that voting took place in a calm and orderly manner. Observer teams were generally well-received at polling stations and throughout the different constituencies, including ruling party strongholds, but they were given a cold shoulder in Mt Darwin Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s constituency.

 

219-Was Mt Darwin vote rigged?

The campaign manager for the Movement for Democratic Change- Mutambara candidate during the 2008 elections complained to United States embassy officials that the votes that Vice-President Joice Mujuru got for the Mt Darwin West constituency was “dubiously high” for the support that she had.

 

220-ZESN helped prevent Mugabe from stealing 2008 election

The Zimbabwe Election Supervisory Network’s parallel vote tabulation may have helped prevent President Robert Mugabe from “stealing” the 2008 election outright according to a cable released by Wikileaks.

 

221-Editor arrested for publishing “false story” on First Lady

The editor of the Zimbabwe Independent Iden Wetherell was arrested on 17 April 2002 for allegedly publishing a “false story” linking the First Lady, Grace Mugabe, to a labour dispute involving her brother.

 

222-First Lady eyes farm with 27-room mansion!

First Lady Grace Mugabe was reportedly one of the more high-profile beneficiaries of the fast-track resettlement effort. According to a diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks the First Lady was reported to have chosen a farm roughly 30 km northwest of Harare which had a new 27-room mansion, valued at over Z$100,000,000 (roughly US $1.6 million), fronted by a 2 hectare “well-manicured garden.”

 

223-First Lady goes “shopping” for a dairy farm

Although dairy farmers had gone largely untouched during the farm invasions of 2000 to 2002, reports in November 2002 said the First Lady Grace Mugabe was one of the high profile people that had started scouting for a dairy farm.

 

224-Gono laughs off Made’s crop forecasts

Central Bank governor Gideon Gono who former United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Joseph Sullivan said “betrayed a keen sense of self-importance”, laughed out loud at the latest maize forecasts by Agriculture Minister Joseph made.

 

225-Mobile phone bosses arrested for externalisation.

At least eight business persons affiliated with mobile phone operators Econet and Telecel were arrested in one week in November allegedly for externalising foreign currency. Observers said the move was aimed at frightening people and firms from dealing on the parallel market.

 

226-Who travels with the President?

President Robert Mugabe travels large. When he went to attend the United Nations general assembly in September 2005, he was accompanied by a delegation of 40 plus five journalists. The list probably gives the United States government an insight of who is who in the president’s inner circle.

 

227-More join the Presidential jet

President Robert Mugabe’s delegation to the United Nations general assembly in 2006 was 10 more people than in 2005 and included his son Bellarmine Chatunga. Unlike the previous year’s list, the 2006 list had arrival and departure dates.

 

228-Presidential delegation trimmed

The presidential delegation to the United Nations general assembly for 2007, or at least the one that was published in the diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks, was much smaller and only had seven names including his wife Grace.

 

229-Was Grace prophetic about Tsvangirai?

First Lady Grace Mugabe who had largely shied away from politics took centre stage after her husband was defeated in the first round of the presidential elections in 2008 by Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai and vowed that Tsvangirai would never step foot inside the State House.

 

230-Mugabe maintains small delegation

President Robert Mugabe maintained a small delegation of seven to the United Nations general assembly in August 2008 though he had just won the controversial presidential elections six weeks earlier. There was only one change. Tourism Minister Francis Nhema was replaced by intelligence director Happyton Bonyongwe.

 

231-DisGrace

First Lady Grace Mugabe made world headlines in January 2009, less than a month before the formation of the inclusive government, when reports said she had repeatedly punched London Sunday Times photographer Richard Jones in the face outside her luxury Hong Kong hotel on January 15.

 

232-US ambassador says Grace seems to have aged

Former United States ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee said First Lady Grace Mugabe “appeared to have aged significantly, looking much older than forty-four and much thinner than she appeared in recent photographs” when she attended a function in honour of visiting Swazi King Mswati III in June 2009.

 

233-Tsvangirai was supposed to join Mugabe for UN trip in 2009

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was supposed to join President Robert Mugabe’s delegation to the United Nations general assembly in September 2009, but it is not clear whether he did so or not.

 

234-Grace and the Nestle dispute

The local subsidiary of Nestle was forced in October 2009 to stop buying milk from Gushungo Dairy Estate because the farm was “controlled” by First Lady Grace Mugabe.

 

235-Uncertainty over property rights scares investors

Uncertainty over property rights was reported to have scuttled a US$167 million partnership deal between South African retail giant Shoprite and OK Zimbabwe Limited, according to a cable released by Wikileaks. Although Shoprite already had one store in Bulawayo and therefore understood political risk in Zimbabwe, the cable says, it was probably unwilling to increase its exposure.

 

236-Grace Mugabe- I have very narrow feet so I only wear Ferragamo

President Robert Mugabe was reported to have commandeered an Air Zimbabwe plane scheduled for a commercial flight to London to take his 59-member delegation to attend the climate change summit in Copenhagen. According to a cable released by Wikileaks, Mugabe was accompanied by his wife Grace “who enjoys her overseas shopping opportunities and once famously said in response to a question on her expensive footwear, ‘I have very narrow feet so I only wear Ferragamo’.”

 

237-US ambassador’s analysis of Media Commission members

President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai announced a new Media Commission on 23 December 2009 with former broadcaster Godfrey Majonga as its chairman.

 

238-Mugabe had assets worth more than US$1 billion in 2001- Wikileaks

The United States embassy said though the full extent of President Robert Mugabe’s assets was not known, they were rumoured to exceed US$1 billion in 2001, the majority of which were likely to be invested outside Zimbabwe, according to a cable released by Wikileaks.

 

239-US embassy says Mugabe is ailing but in command

President Robert Mugabe seems to have been ill for quite some time. According to a diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks, Mugabe was quite ill way back in 2003 and had consulted a United Nations medical specialist.

 

240-CIO keeps Mnangagwa a step ahead of his adversaries- Wikileaks

Some elements of the Central Intelligence Organisation were keeping Emmerson Mnangagwa, then Speaker of Parliament, a step ahead of his adversaries, Movement for Democratic Change senior officials Welshman Ncube and Paul Themba Nyathi told United States embassy officials.

 

241-First Lady stone-faced throughout installation of Catholic Archbishop

First Lady Grace Mugabe sat stone-faced throughout the four-installation of Catholic Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu at the Harare Sport centre while President Robert Mugabe tapped his finger to the music and occasionally clapped, a cable released by Wikileaks says.

 

242-First Boyfriend released

That was the title of the diplomatic cable dispatched by the United States embassy in Harare on 26 August 2004, two days after the release of businessman James Makamba. All we can say is: No comment.

 

243-Mugabe’s priest

President Robert Mugabe’s personal priest Father Fidelis Mukonori told United States embassy officials in 2007 that he believed that it was now time for Mugabe to go but an exit would have been easier 10 or 15 years earlier.

 

244-The US embassy’s assessment of Grace Mugabe

First Lady Grace Mugabe is not active in politics. She is not well liked in the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. She has no close relationship with any cabinet ministers. She has very few friends even within the Mugabe family.

 

245-Was the MDC thrown cabinet scraps?

The Movement for Democratic Change which almost upset the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front in its first national elections in 2000 by winning 57 seats against ZANU-PF’s 62 was likely to be given ministries that were window dressing or problematic if President Robert Mugabe decided to throw them “cabinet scraps”, former United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Tom McDonald said.

 

246-Mugabe believes he is the only one who can hold ZANU-PF together

President Robert Mugabe is unlikely to give serious consideration to anointing a successor because he believes that he is the only one who can hold the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and the country together, this was said by former ZANU-PF legislator Michael Mataure.

 

247-Cross, Stevenson wanted Mugabe impeached- Wikileaks

Movement for Democratic Change legislators, Eddie Cross and Trudy Stevenson, who is now an ambassador, were among the radicals within the MDC that piled pressure on party leader Morgan Tsvangirai to get President Robert Mugabe impeached, according to former secretary general Welshman Ncube.

 

248-Mnangagwa would be more ruthless than Mugabe- Wikileaks

Emmerson Mnangagwa, for long considered one of President Robert Mugabe’s potential successors, was likely to be more brutal than Mugabe if he became president, a political analyst Brian Raftopoulos, told United States embassy officials in December 2000.

 

249-Did the US supply GMO food to Zimbabwe in 2002?

That is the question one is bound to ask after reading a situation report by the United States embassy in Harare on the status of food relief in Zimbabwe. According to a cable released by Wikileaks, the first sentence in the comment section reads: “The good news is that the barriers to GMO food donations are coming down……..”

 

250-Mutasa dodgy ahead of ZANU-PF conference

ZANU-PF secretary for external affairs was very dodgy in the run-up to the 2002 party conference as United States embassy officials scrambled to get party officials to disclose whether the issue of President Robert Mugabe’s succession would be discussed or not.

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