Movement for Democratic Change Member of Parliament for Chimanimani Roy Bennett, who was forced out of his Charleswood farm, said his employees were being prevented from leaving the farm by the security forces that had taken over the farm.
He said the new farm operator, Zimbabwe Defence Industries, had given the workers the option to leave or stay on to work for it, but those who wanted to leave had no means to do so.
Bennett said he was willing to arrange transport and housing for those who wanted to leave but those occupying the farm had prevented him to entering the farm or communicating with anyone on the farm.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 04HARARE682, MISCHIEF IN MANICALAND: VIOLENCE ON FARMS, MUTARE
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000682
SIPDIS
AF/S FOR S. DELISI, L. AROIAN, M. RAYNOR
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER, D. TEITELBAUM
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY
PARIS FOR C. NEARY
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2009
TAGS: PHUM PGOV ASEC PREF EAGR EAID ZI MDC ZANU PF
SUBJECT: MISCHIEF IN MANICALAND: VIOLENCE ON FARMS, MUTARE
MAYOR FORCED OUT
REF: HARARE 635
Classified By: Political Officer Win Dayton under Section 1.5 b/d
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Credible sources report that ruling party
supporters who have seized farms in Manicaland are beating
farm workers suspected of loyalty to the opposition.
International Organization for Migration (IOM) is preparing
to care for farm workers who are being displaced by the
seizures and associated violence. In the province’s capital
of Mutare, a mob of ZANU-PF supporters on April 21 locked out
the duly elected MDC mayor and the MDC-dominated City Council
and have refused to permit their return.
Farm Workers Beaten, Displaced
——————————
¶2. (C) MDC MP Roy Bennett advised emboffs on April 21 that
his recently seized farm, Charleswood Estate (reftel),
continued to be sealed by personnel from the army and police
support unit. After the removal of management principals
from the farm on Good Friday, occupying forces had
effectively prevented workers from leaving the farm. Bennett
confirmed that workers had been given the option of departing
or staying on to work for the farm’s new operator, Zimbabwe
Defense Industries (ZDI), but asserted that workers wanting
to leave had no means to do so — they lacked transportation
or arrangements for alternative room and board. He asserted
that nearly all the workers and their families, most of whom
had been associated with his family for more than a
generation, would choose to leave given a meaningful
opportunity to do so. Bennett said he was willing to arrange
for their transportation and housing pending his legal battle
over Charleswood, but that occupying forces prevented him
from entering the farm or communicating with anybody on the
farm.
¶3. (C) Bennett said he was due to have heard on April 22 an
urgent court application seeking his possession of or access
to the farm. He noted that he already had numerous court
orders establishing his right to possess the farm (a
registered export processing zone), and had effectively used
connections with local police and chiefs to stay on the farm
in the past. He would draw on such influence with another
favorable court order but was not confident it would prevail
over the apparent mandate of his farm’s latest occupiers. He
noted that contacts within the military confided to him that
orders for the military role in the farm’s seizure had come
from the President.
¶4. (SBU) Bennett reported that, according to a farm worker
who had managed to depart the farm by April 20, ZANU-PF
supporters directing the farm’s occupation were forcing farm
workers to attend ZANU-PF rallies, at which they were made to
chant pro-ruling party slogans and to vilify the MDC. Those
suspected of being key MDC sympathizers and some just
randomly selected were singled out for beatings, in which
they were slathered with mud and beaten with sticks.
(Comment: This practice would be consistent with well
documented, periodically applied ruling party tactics
predating independence. End comment.) Among those beaten
was an octogenarian pensioner.
¶5. (SBU) IOM representatives reported that police officials
visited the Anglican Church facility where most of
Charleswood’s evicted management and their families were
being housed and accused church personnel of engaging in
anti-government activities. This prompted movement of
Charleswood’s management “refugees” to other safe houses
under IOM’s care. According to an MDC provincial
representative, police beat some of them who were waiting for
a bus to take them to another location.
¶6. (SBU) IOM representatives corroborated Bennett’s
allegations and said they were working with him to arrange
shelter and food for any that could leave the farm. They
said they had received unconfirmed reports of additional farm
seizures under similar circumstances involving security
forces and beaten/displaced workers. Most significant among
these was the highly publicized Kondozi farm seizure, which
pitted Minister of Agriculture Joseph Made and the the
Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) against a
partnership of black and white Zimbabweans reportedly aligned
with Vice President Joseph Msika and a host of local chiefs.
IOM representatives confirmed press reports that at least 500
of the farm’s reported 5,000 workers had left the farm and
were living in camps by the roadside. IOM was initiating
action to assure provision of food and shelter. Many had
reported being beaten with rubber truncheons by security
forces who had seized the property for ARDA, which was now
operating the farm.
¶7. (SBU) An IOM representative indicated that at least half
of Zimbabwe’s remaining commercial farms were in Manicaland,
and at least half of them had been designated for seizure.
He was unsure how many of these already had been invaded but
suggested many had been at least partially invaded — often
with police and army support — and were operating at less
than full capacity.
Opposition Mayor Evicted
————————
¶8. (U) According to an MDC press release, a mob of more than
2,000 ZANU-PF supporters at 8 a.m. on April 21 sealed off the
office of MDC Mayor Kagurabadza Mutare’s civic center. The
release alleged that most supporters had been ferried in from
outside Mutare, and some from outside Manicaland. Police
failed to respond to the mayor’s numerous calls for
assistance. An MDC provincial party spokesman reported that
the mayor was finally permitted to depart the building that
night after addressing the crowd and surrendering the keys to
his office.
¶9. (SBU) Kagurabadza told poloff from his home on April 22
that his office was being occupied by demonstrators and
neither he nor any of the city council were permitted entry.
He recounted that the mob’s initial demand had been merely
that he meet with them. After he resisted initially over
security concerns, he met during the evening of April 21.
They demanded that he agree to suspend recently imposed rate
hikes. He noted that the hikes had been approved by Minister
for Local Government Chombo but he agreed to suspend them
provisionally until a meeting of stakeholders could be
convened on the matter April 26. Upon that concession, the
demonstrators demanded the resignation of the mayor and the
city council. Kagurabadza refused, promising to leave when
the people lawfully voted in another mayor. The
demonstrators said they would only leave if instructed to do
so by Minister Chombo.
¶10. (SBU) The mayor said that demonstration leaders appeared
to include former ZANU-PF city councilor George Gambe and a
local self-proclaimed “chief” Murawa. MDC provincial
spokesman added that ZANU-PF Central Committee member and
defeated mayoral candidate Shadreck Beta and ZANU-PF
Provincial Youth Chairman Enoch Boruzingaze also were
involved, although Kagurabadza could not confirm this. The
mayor confirmed that he and the council generally enjoyed a
good working relationship with key ZANU-PF city management
officials officials appointed by the city’s last ZANU-PF
municipal administration.
¶11. (SBU) Kagurabadza advised that he was attempting to
resolve the conflict through negotiation, for now eschewing
the party’s historically favored legal maneuvers that he
considered uniformly expensive and unsuccessful. He had
contacted Manicaland Governor Nyambuya, who had urged that he
work things out through the police. He had an appointment on
April 23 with the Chief of Police for Manicaland, who had
promised to “try to convince” the demonstrators to leave.
His attempts to reach Chombo so far had proven unsuccessful.
Comment
——-
¶12. (U) An MDC stronghold in the last parliamentary
election, Manicaland has long been a source of critics of
ruling party policy outside and inside the party, including
Morgan Tsvangirai, Simba Makoni, and Edgar Tekere. The
ruling party had made a well-publicized priority of retaking
the province, which is the MDC’s only bastion of
predominantly rural non-Ndebele constituencies the ruling
party considers its bread and butter. Mutare’s mayoral
contest last year was marked by violence — the Kagurabadza’s
car was demolished and MDC activists were beaten and knifed
— in spite of a “campaign code of conduct” sponsored by the
churches and publicly subscribed to by both party’s
candidates.
¶13. (C) Recent developments in Manicaland bear testament to
the comprehensiveness and relentlessness of the ruling
party’s urban-rural assault strategy. While most prominent
in Manicaland, strong-arm tactics continue to be evident
throughout the country in forms too numerous and imaginative
to recount here. The MDC’s continuing inability to protect
its activists from systematic beatings, its mayors from
dismissal, its MPs from arrest (recent arrest of MP Masaiti
to be reported septel) are a significant factor in the
public’s sharp drift from politics. Indeed, the party’s
fundamental challenge remains as it has from its inception:
how does a democratic party committed to non-violence contest
a liberation party impervious to international criticism and
unafraid to employ all tools at its disposal — violence,
domination of the media, monopoly on all means of coercion —
to remain in power?
SULLIVAN
(37 VIEWS)
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