Lawyer Trust Manda said two Movement for Democratic Change officials Knowledge Nyamhuka and Thando Sibanda, who were arrested in connection with the discovery of arms in Mutare were pressed by police to implicate former Member of Parliament Roy Bennett.
Manda said that police held a gun to Nyamhuka’s head to force him to sign a statement in the absence of his lawyer.
The Sunday Mirror reported that Bennett planted the seed money in a Mozambique bank for Hitschmann.
Police had not yet officially indicated that Bennett was a suspect.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 06HARARE317, ARMS CACHE SUSPECTS CHARGED, LINKED TO
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Reference ID |
Created |
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Origin |
VZCZCXYZ0043
RR RUEHWEB
DE RUEHSB #0317/01 0731653
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 141653Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9746
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 1153
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 0985
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 1157
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0013
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0417
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 0777
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1211
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 3555
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0983
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 1611
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 1368
C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 000317
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
AF/S FOR B. NEULING
SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/14/2015
SUBJECT: ARMS CACHE SUSPECTS CHARGED, LINKED TO
ASSASSINATION PLOT
REF: REFTEL: HARARE 303 AND PREVIOUS
Classified By: Charge d’Affaires, a.i. Eric T Schultz under Section 1.4
b/d
¶1. (SBU) The GOZ on March 11 charged eight suspects connected
to last week,s arms seizure in Mutare (reftel). The eight
were charged under Public Order and Security Act (POSA)
prohibitions against processing weapons to commit banditry,
sabotage, or terrorism. Appearing in a Mutare court to be
charged were Michael Peter Hitschmann, MDC MP for Mutare
North Giles Mutsekwa, MDC provincial youth chairman Knowledge
Nyamhuka, MDC activist Thando Sibanda, and four police
officers who allegedly sold Hitschmann weapons. Although
initially arrested, MDC provincial treasurer Brian James was
not charged and was released on Sunday after police failed to
link him to the weapons.
¶2. (SBU) The GOZ-controlled Sunday Mail highlighted supposed
plans by the suspects to kill President Mugabe during the
leader’s birthday celebration in Mutare last month. The
state-controlled Sunday Mirror added a new wrinkle by quoting
an unidentified source who said that Taiwan was behind the
plot in an effort to “neutralize Chinese influence in
Southern Africa.” The independent paper The Standard also
recounted the government allegations, adding that the eight
had supposedly planned to spill oil on the mountainous
highway to Mutare to cause Mugabe’s motorcade to crash, and
to disrupt the birthday celebrations with tear gas. The
Standard, however, gave equal coverage to defense statements
that several of the suspects had been tortured and
confessions coerced. The Standard also quoted defense lawyer
Trust Manda who said that Hitschmann was a licensed arms
deals, who in the course of normal business possessed large
numbers of weapons.
¶3. (C) Manda told poloff on March 14 that Hitschmann was
providing information to police and that authorities were
continuing to interrogate Nyamhuka and Sibanda with the
threat of further beatings. (N.B. Manda does not represent
the four police officers and could not comment on their
condition.) Contrary to standard procedures, Nyamhuka and
Sibanda were returned to the police station after their court
appearance on Saturday and forced to sign a statement without
their lawyers present. Manda said that police held a gun to
Nyamhuka’s head to force him to sign.
¶4. (C) Manda said that police had pressed Nyamhuka and
Sibanda to implicate former-MDC MP Roy Bennett in the alleged
assassination plot. Bennett’s supposed role has received
intense coverage in the state media, with the Sunday Mirror
quoting a source that “a senior MDC official who is a former
legislator” planted the seed money in a Mozambique bank for
Hitschmann. The media has also portrayed Bennett as evading
an intense police search, although Manda noted that the
police had yet to officially indicate that Bennett was a
suspect. MDC contacts inform us that Bennett ) who
according to MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa has been nominated
unopposed as party treasurer to be formally elected at the
Congress this weekend – is still free. The Australian Charge
told the CDA today that Bennett has left the country.
——-
Comment
——-
¶5. (C) The GOZ’s charges do not add up. The weapons cache
consists of a dozen or so hunting rifles and assorted
ammunition and radio equipment ) hardly the stuff of a coup
attempt. The more likely explanation is that the weapons are
connected to Hitschmann,s work as a firearms dealer.
Moreover, the accounts we have heard about Hitschmann suggest
that he is an unlikely participant in such a conspiracy, let
alone an organizer. Furthermore, spilling oil on the road to
cause an accident is more the brainchild of Willie-Coyote
than would-be coup plotters, even those as half-baked as
Hitschmann. All evidence at this point would suggest that
the GOZ is deliberately, and unfortunately successfully,
using this incident to undermine the MDC ahead of its
Congress on Friday, in which Bennett was to have played an
instrumental role.
SCHULTZ
(27 VIEWS)
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