Evangelical Bishop Trevor Manhanga told United States embassy officials that although Archbishop Pius Ncube was set up, the charges of adultery that were being levelled against him were undoubtedly true and would do considerable harm to the opposition.
According to a cable released by Wikileaks Manhanga said it was obviously a set up and showed what the government would do to silence critics.
Ncube said the government was holding evidence against two other Catholic bishops. This would be a severe blow, Manhanga added, to the Catholic Church and to the Save Zimbabwe Coalition of which Ncube was a prominent member.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 07HARARE656, TREVOR MANHANGA ON MEETINGS WITH MUGABE AND GONO,
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Reference ID |
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VZCZCXRO7320
RR RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0656/01 2001458
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 191458Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1712
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 1652
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 1520
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 1656
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0300
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0922
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 1285
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1712
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 4129
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1482
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 2146
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0777
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1873
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000656
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
AF/S FOR S.HILL
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR E.LOKEN AND L.DOBBINS
STATE PASS TO NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B.PITTMAN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2012
SUBJECT: TREVOR MANHANGA ON MEETINGS WITH MUGABE AND GONO,
VIEWS ON PIUS NCUBE
Classified By: Charge d’affaires, a.i. Katherine Dhanani under Section
1.4 b/d
¶1. (C) Summary. Evangelical Bishop Trevor Manhanga,
Chairman of the Heads of Christian Denominations in Zimbabwe,
spoke with Poleconchief July 18 and recounted a recent
meeting with President Mugabe. According to Manhanga, Mugabe
is preparing for elections next year and is confident he will
win. He is dismissive of the SADC talks and will push for
adoption of Constitutional Amendment 18 to pave the way for
succession after his election. Manhanga also spoke on July
17 with Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono, a
chief advisor to Mugabe on economic matters. Gono told
Manhanga he went over the dire economic situation in detail
with Mugabe and counseled that the current price control
regime was leading to unacceptable shortages of food. Mugabe
listened to Gono but gave no indication of changing course.
Turning to Archbishop Pius Ncube, Manhanga opined that
although Ncube was set up, the charges were undoubtedly true
and would do considerable harm to the opposition. End
Summary.
——————-
Meeting with Mugabe
——————-
¶2. (C) Manhanga and Bishop Sebastian Bakare of Mutare met
about two weeks ago with Mugabe. Also present was Minister
of Justice Patrick Chinimasa. Manhanga said he sought the
meeting to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe and Mugabe’s
future, including plans for retirement. He told us he
emphasized to Mugabe the urgency of dealing with the
Zimbabwean crisis and that a resolution was dependent upon
Mugabe’s retirement and plan for succession.
¶3. (C) According to Manhanga, Mugabe was noncommittal, but
left the clear impression he intended to run for election
and, after being reelected, to then deal with the succession
issue. Mugabe complained that his cabinet was the worst ever
and was constantly speaking out without coordinating with
him. Manhanga thought that Mugabe was content to permit this
as well as intraparty squabbling in advance of the elections
as long as no coherent opposition to him developed.
¶4. (C) On the issue of the Mbeki-led SADC talks, Chinimasa,
who is one of the ZANU-PF negotiators, was dismissive stating
there was nothing to discuss. Manhanga told us he thought
the recent failure of Chinimasa and Nicholas Goche to travel
to South Africa two weeks ago for scheduled talks was typical
of ZANU-PF when it did not want to deal seriously with
issues. He felt that unless SADC as a whole mandated Mbeki
to get tough, Mbeki would continue with his “quiet diplomacy.”
¶5. (C) Manhanga told us that in 2005 he had traveled to the
U.S. and met with, among others, the members of the
Congressional Black Caucus and staff, Jessie Jackson, and
Andrew Young and discussed a visit of African-Americans to
Zimbabwe to exchange views. He said he mentioned this to
Mugabe who was receptive to the idea.
¶6. (C) Manhanga, who sees Mugabe from time to time, found
him alert and aware of the situation in the country.
————–
Price Controls
————–
HARARE 00000656 002 OF 003
¶7. (C) In a July 17 meeting, Gono told Manhanga he had
recently met with Mugabe and had explained in detail that the
current price controls would not work and would lead to
shortages. As an example, he told Mugabe that the military
was already suffering from a shortage of food.
¶8. (C) Gono, according to Manhanga, understood that
merchants could not sell at a loss. His immediate
prescription was to return to the “social contract” to bring
government, labor, and business together to discuss a
resolution of the problems created by the price controls.
(Note: In early June, the GOZ touted the signing of a social
contract under which the government allegedly promised to
foster economic growth, labor promised to rein in wage
demands, and business agreed to control prices. Needless to
say, the agreement did not address fundamental economic
problems and did not work–within a week inflation had once
again taken off. End Note.)
¶9. (C) Manhanga told us, as we have heard elsewhere, that
the decision to impose price controls was made by the Joint
Operations Command (JOC) comprised of the heads of the
military, Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), police,
and Minister for State Security Didymus Mutasa. Manhanga
said that Mugabe continued to take advice from the JOC; he
remained close, however, to Gono and listened to his economic
advice. A decision to seek a way out of the current mess,
according to Manhanga, may depend on how convincing Gono is.
¶10. (C) For his part, Manhanga said he had been in contact
with a number of business concerns, including the Congress of
Zimbabwean Industry (CZI), TA Holdings, the Rainbow Group,
Econet, and Stanbic; and he was seeking a meeting for them
with Mugabe to give the president a reality check.
——————-
On Archbishop Ncube
——————-
¶11. (C) Manhanga thought the recent adultery allegations
against Ncube were true. It was obviously a set up and
showed what the government would do to silence critics.
Ncube also said the GOZ is holding evidence against two other
Catholic bishops. This will be a severe blow, Manhanga
added, to the Catholic Church and to the Save Zimbabwe
Coalition of which Ncube was a prominent member.
——-
Comment
——-
¶12. (C) Manhanga considers himself a bridge builder. His
infrequent criticisms of the government have been muted; this
has permitted him to retain a relationship with Mugabe,
although many in the opposition consider him a government
collaborator. His inside the regime view tracks with what
others have told us and with what we have observed: Mugabe
intends to run for reelection and expects to win after which
he will deal with succession. The Mbeki talks are a sideshow
he does not take seriously. Finally, Gono has the
president’s ear and is the most important voice against price
controls and the havoc they are raising within ZANU-PF. We
note, however, that others in ZANU-PF appear unwilling to
take on Mugabe’s destructive populist policies and a change
of course does not appear on the horizon. Evidence of this
HARARE 00000656 003 OF 003
is the recent imposition of import controls on staples and
fuel which will exacerbate the scarcity of food (Septel).
DHANANI
(595 VIEWS)
