Elias Mudzuri got off on the wrong foot with some people in the Combined Harare Residents Association and his own Movement for Democratic Change by taking possession of the mayoral Mercedes and moving into the guest house of a lavish mayoral mansion built by the previous regime, according to a cable released by Wikileaks.
The cable says Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo was only too happy to fuel this dispute by requiring that the mayor occupy the mansion rather than sell it off.
Mudzuri beat the chairman of the Combined Harare Residents’ Association David Samudzimu for the MDC mayoral nomination, reportedly by doing politics the “old-fashioned way” through free lunches and beers, the cable says.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 02HARARE1463, OPPOSITION MAYORS OF HARARE AND CHITUNGWIZA FACE
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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 001463
SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/FO AND AF/S; NSC FOR SR DIR JENDAYI FRAZER,
AID FOR AFR;
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2012
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION MAYORS OF HARARE AND CHITUNGWIZA FACE
GOZ OBSTACLES
Classified By: JOSEPH G. SULLIVAN FOR REASONS 1.5B/D
1.(C) Summary: The Ambassador met separately the week of
June 10 with MDC Mayors of Harare and Chitungwiza. Their
styles could not be more different. Harare Mayor Mudzuri
served as chief city engineer and won a contentious and
flashy campaign for the MDC mayoral nomination, while
Chitungwiza Mayor Misheck Shoko is a soft-spoken former
school headmaster with war-veteran credentials and a
pragmatic bent. Both are hamstrung by Local Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo, who has substantial authority and
motive to make their jobs difficult. While both are
bedeviled by staffs chosen by ZANU-PF predecessors whom
Chombo has intervened to protect, while Chitungwiza is
additionally handicapped by a town council dominated by
ZANU-PF(since only Harare had simultaneous Council elections.
Both mayors recognized, however, that no excuses will make
up for failure to deliver for their residents. Harare, in
particular, with a substantial revenue base and succeeding a
corrupt and ineffective interim city management, has stepped
out smartly to repair streets and public works. We will be
looking at ways that we can help these new administrations
get off to a good start. End Summary
¶2. (C) Harare Mayor Mudzuri beat out the Chairman of the
Combined Harare Residents’ Association (CHRA) David Samudzimi
for the MDC mayoral nomination, reportedly by doing politics
the “old-fashioned way” through free lunches and beers.
Mudziri also got off on the wrong foot with some in CHRA and
the MDC by taking possession of the mayoral Mercedes and
moving into the guest house of a lavish mayoral mansion built
by the previous regime. (Minister Chombo was only too happy
to fuel this dispute by requiring that the Mayor occupy the
mansion rather than sell it off.) Public criticism of the
Mayor for “intolerable acquiescence to the Minister’s
dictates” by new CHRA Acting Director Mike Davies brought the
disputes among the opposition into embarrassing public light.
Subsequently, the MDC and Mayor Mudziri have worked hard to
repair the damage and present a united fight, both
recognizing that Chombo will do nothing to help the Harare
city administration and will take full profit from MDC
disunity.
¶3. (c) During his meeting with the Ambassador, Mudziri
complained that Minister Chombo had reversed virtually all
the terminations of eleventh-hour ZANU-PF appointments,
including that of notorious war veteran leader Joseph
Chinotimba as a city security officer. Chombo has directed
that all personnel and financial decisions by the city be
referred to him. Mudzuri noted that even the City Council’s
sacking of a high-ranking ZANU-PF official as the city’s
recently appointed public relations director awaited Chombo’s
approval. Mudzuri told the Ambassador that the law was
unfortunately on Chombo’s side and there was little point
fighting in court. Instead, he would act in every area
possible without asking permission. For example, the Mayor
intended to carry out an audit of city accounts by
Price-Waterhouse for 2.5 million Zimdollars(about 500
thousand US dollars at the official rate). Mudziri said that
he stated that he had good relations with citizens’ groups
and that he was also seeking to repair his relations with the
CHRA, although there were still some difficulties. He also
said that he was focusing on long-neglected public works and
street repairs in these early months in order to show the
citizenry that he was working in their interests. He
expressed interest in training opportunities for city
officials and councilors and in reviving a dormant
relationship with Harare’s sister city of Cincinnati.
4,(c) Chitungwiza Mayor Shoko has gotten off to a better
start with civil society by meeting with them early on. His
inherited city council, however, is dominated by ZANU-PF war
veterans and have stormily opposed most of his initiatives,
including the concept of consultation with residents. The
Mayor told the Ambassador that the only gesture of
conciliation offered by his Councilors was an offer to cut
him in on a mutual distribution of commercial plots to be
operated or sold by the Mayor and Councilors. His rejection
of the offer and the scheme won him no friends in the
Council. Shoko also complained that he has no employees of
confidence in his administration, including his security. As
an ex war veteran himself, Shoko said that he was dealing
with his political problems in a personal way without backing
down. He is also hamstrung by Minister Chombo, who recently
overruled Shoko’s efforts to dismiss those city councilors
who had violated rules against missing more than two
consecutive council meetings. Shoko was also anxious to
cooperate with us in addressing his high density suburb’s
myriad problems.
¶5. (c) Comment: These two mayors have assumed challenging
tasks at a time when the country’s economy is collapsing.
They will get no favors and only obstruction from Minister
Chombo. But as the MDC seeks to show it is more than an
opposition party, how it does in these highly visible posts
takes on added importance. We will work with these two
newcomers to see how we might help them within the context of
our pilot programs on local government.
SULLIVAN
(94 VIEWS)
