The United States embassy said the arrest of Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri for externalising foreign currency was not the answer to the country’s problems because he was a moderate who had spoken against a proposal by hardliner Minister of Agriculture Joseph Made.
Kuruneri was charged with externalising foreign currency after it emerged he was building a R30 million house in Cape Town and had a Canadian passport when the country’s laws prohibited dual citizenship.
“We are concerned about the selective enforcement of the Foreign Exchange Control Act,” the United States embassy said. “Using it to bring down one of many allegedly corrupt ministers does not make the legislation or the GOZ’s tactics less repressive.”
“If Kuruneri deserves sanction or prosecution, it is probably for graft and abuse of privilege rather than foreign investment. ….By GOZ cabinet standards, Kuruneri was a relative moderate who even spoke out publicly last year against a proposal from hard-line Agricultural Minister Joseph Made.
“Now he is the latest victim in the GOZ’s clumsy attempt to demonstrate that forex speculation destroyed the economy and that the Government is weeding out corruption.”
Full cable:
Viewing cable 04HARARE702, GOZ Forex Crusade Snags Finance Minister
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UNCLAS HARARE 000702
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR AF/S
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER
USDOC FOR AMANDA HILLIGAS
TREASURY FOR OREN WYCHE-SHAW
PASS USTR FLORIZELLE LISER
STATE PASS USAID FOR MARJORIE COPSON
¶E. O. 12958: N/A
SUBJECT: GOZ Forex Crusade Snags Finance Minister
Ref: 03 Harare 2140
¶1. (SBU) Summary: With the detention of Finance Minister
Chris Kuruneri over the weekend, the GOZ’s witch hunt
against foreign exchange externalizers reached a new
level. Kuruneri is the GOZ’s latest pretext for blaming
the country’s economic demise on parallel market trading
and foreign accounts, rather than its own policies. End
Summary.
¶2. (SBU) For over a month, the South African Sunday Times
has been embarrassing the GOZ by reporting of Kuruneri’s
new 8-bedroom R$ 30 million beachfront Cape Town getaway.
This has put the Finance Minister in the surreal position
of defending himself against a repressive Foreign
Exchange Control Act that his ministry helped create, but
that he – and nearly every affluent Zimbabwean – has
violated. Ostensibly, the GOZ is charging Kuruneri not
because he acquired millions of U.S. dollars through
graft, bribe or other corruption, but because he invested
in a foreign country without subjecting funds to official
exchange. Underscoring the heavy-handed nature of the
weekend imprisonment, the GOZ is also charging Kuruneri
with the benign offense of possessing a Canadian
passport. (GOZ law does not recognize dual nationality.)
¶3. (SBU) Comment: We are concerned about the selective
enforcement of the Foreign Exchange Control Act. Using
it to bring down one of many allegedly corrupt ministers
does not make the legislation or the GOZ’s tactics less
repressive. If Kuruneri deserves sanction or
prosecution, it is probably for graft and abuse of
privilege rather than foreign investment. While nearly
every Zimbabwean motorist relied on black market fuel
last year, the Government similarly imprisoned political
enemies for purchasing fuel outside official (at the
time, nonexistent) channels. By GOZ cabinet standards,
Kuruneri was a relative moderate who even spoke out
publicly last year against a proposal from hard-line
Agricultural Minister Joseph Made (ref). Now he is the
latest victim in the GOZ’s clumsy attempt to demonstrate
that forex speculation destroyed the economy and that the
Government is weeding out corruption.
Sullivan
(80 VIEWS)
