Madhuku optimistic, allies sceptical

There were differences of opinion over the success of the two-day stay-stay organised by the Broad Alliance with National Constitutional Assembly leader Lovemore Madhuku describing it as a partial success while his colleagues thought otherwise.

Madhuku, who was the principal organiser, said the Broad Alliance was going to engage in more active protests in the coming weeks.

Movement for Democratic Change secretary for Presidential Affairs Gandhi Mudzingwa said the party did not regard the stay-away as a success.

He said many in the party were critical of Madhuku for not having better organised the action and felt that only the MDC could truly lead such an effort.

Mudzingwa said the failure of the stay away was the latest evidence that new methods of resistance were needed.

Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions Information Officer Mlamleli Sibanda said the stay-away had a poor response due to bad organisation and lack of consultation among Broad Alliance partners, like the ZCTU.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 05HARARE831, MODEST STAY-AWAY RESULTS CHALLENGE BROAD ALLIANCE

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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000831

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

AF FOR DAS T. WOODS

AF/S FOR B. NEULING

OVP FOR NULAND

NSC FOR DNSA ABRAMS, SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2010

TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PINR ZI

SUBJECT: MODEST STAY-AWAY RESULTS CHALLENGE BROAD ALLIANCE

Classified By: Charge d’ Affaires a.i. under Section 1.4 b/d

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Summary

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¶1. (C) The NCA,s Lovemore Madukhu, organizer of last

week,s stayaway action, called it a limited success.

However, Madhuku acknowledged that poor organization and

communications had hampered the effort. Other opposition

leaders were less charitable. While some alliance members

felt slighted in the planning stages, others questioned the

efficacy of stayaways in general. None of the alliance

members discussed specific plans to initiate any mass action

in the coming week. End Summary.

————————-

NCA: More Protests Coming

————————-

¶2. (C) Lovemore Madhuku of the National Constitutional

Assembly (NCA) told PolOff on June 13 that the stay away had

been partially successful and that the Broad Alliance would

engage in more active protests in the coming weeks, although

nothing was planned for this week. Madhuku said he would not

know further details of planned protests until after

consulting with other opposition leaders.

—————————

MDC: More Meetings Coming

—————————

¶3. (C) Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Secretary for

Presidential Affairs Gandhi Mudzingwa told PolOff on June 14

that the MDC did not regard the stay away as a success. He

said many in the party were critical of Madhuku for not

having better organized the action and felt that only the MDC

could truly lead such an effort. Mudzingwa said the MDC

planned no mass actions were for this week, nor did he know

of any other organization planning such activities. The

party leadership did plan to meet its Broad Alliance partners

on June 21 to assess the situation and strategize. He

expected the party would push for tactics of broad localized

resistance in the coming months.

¶4. (C) Mudzingwa said the failure of the stay away was the

latest evidence that such new methods of resistance were

needed. To that end, the party had formed a Democratic

Resistance Committee to move its focus from a democratic

political party to a democratic resistance movement. The MDC

leadership would discuss this and other issues at a Bulawayo

retreat on June 16. When asked about whether the MDC would

apply its new tactics in response to Operation Restore Order,

Mudzingwa said the MDC had chosen not to spearhead a direct

response. Diverting party attention to the operation would

“distract” it from the larger agenda.

—————————

ZCTU: Inactive and Left Out

—————————

¶5. (C) On June 13, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)

Information Officer Mlamleli Sibanda told PolOff that the

recent stayaway action had a poor response due to bad

organization and lack of consultation among Broad Alliance

partners, like the ZCTU. Sibanda intimated that the ZCTU was

more concerned about fostering consensus in its General

Council than with planning stayaway follow-on actions for now

in any event. (N.B. Key ZCTU players were in Geneva for ILO

meetings during the run-up to the stay-away.)

——————————————–

CHRA: Skeptical of Broad Alliance’s Capacity

——————————————–

¶6. (C) Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) Chairman

Mike Davies said the stayaway was not a failure but

recognized that organization and communications problems

existed. He told PolOff on June 13 that the opposition must

better harness the population,s anger, and suggested the

establishment of &a shadow government outside of the

occupied state8 with regional and international support.

Davies added that a significant obstacle for the opposition

is the fact that many of the educated middle-class people who

would normally have protested have left the country.

——-

Comment

——-

¶7. (C) Most of the opposition sat on their hands last week

and yet have chosen to blame Madhuku for the failure of the

stay away ) the first real action by the opposition since

the March election. This apparent lack of solidarity

suggests we may be in for an extended period of relative

inaction by the opposition, an unfortunate response to rising

government repression.

SCHULTZ

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