The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front national chairman John Nkomo was not happy with the speech by war veterans leader Patrick Nyaruwata because he had criticised the government in what was supposed to be a solidarity speech.
Nyaruwata had accused the government of corruption in the land distribution exercise and appealed to President Robert Mugabe to act against the corrupt officials.
Nyaruwata was addressing the party’s annual conference at Chinhoyi.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 02HARARE2803, ZIMBABWE PROMISES MORE OF THE SAME AT ZANU-PF
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 002803
SIPDIS
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY
PARIS FOR C. NEARY
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/16/2012
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE PROMISES MORE OF THE SAME AT ZANU-PF
CONFERENCE
REF: HARARE 2742
Classified By: Political Officer Kimberly Jemison for reasons 1.5 b/d.
SUMMARY
——-
¶1. (C) ZANU-PF,s annual conference, concluded in Chinhoyi
December 14, proved to be another platform from which the
senior party leadership could blast their critics and blame
others for the country,s economic woes. President Mugabe
tacitly admitted that the land reform exercise had not gone
well but in the same breath he blamed most of the country,s
economic woes on the British and other Western powers. END
SUMMARY.
MUGABE CONTINUES TO DEMONIZE MDC, BRITAIN, AND THE WEST
——————————————— ———-
¶2. (U) ZANU-PF,s sixth National People,s Conference was
filled with the same rhetoric the party has been espousing
over the last year. The West, the MDC, NGOs, and civic
groups, led by Britain, are the reason for most of the
economic problems besieging the country, Mugabe said in his
opening address. Mugabe also made a thinly veiled threat
against Australia, New Zealand, and some EU member states
that if these countries continued to side with Britain, then
they would be treated as enemies. &The more they work
against us, the more they should expect hostility from us and
the more negative we shall become to their kith and kin
here.8 An Australian diplomat in attendance told us Mugabe
had said explicitly “white people are the enemy” and noted
that the US was notably absent among the list of countries in
the diatribe. (NOTE: Despite assurances from ZANU-PF
Director of Administration, Fred Shava, that the Embassy
would receive an invitation to the opening ceremony, we never
did (see reftel). Other Western embassies received
invitations during the week leading up to the opening
ceremony. Our Australian colleague told us he had to
repeatedly ask for their invitation. END NOTE.)
LAND REFORM NOT TOTAL SUCCESS
—————————–
¶3. (U) Mugabe admitted that it was necessary to review the
land reform and that there had been disapproval and
dissatisfaction with some aspects of the exercise, especially
the A2 model, according to press accounts. Mugabe was quick
to say there would be no turning back on the land issue and
he reiterated a desire to indigenize the mining,
manufacturing, industry, tourism, and the financial sector.
Mugabe reiterated a threat he made two months ago to
nationalize gas stations owned by multinational oil
companies.
¶4. (U) Patrick Nyaruwata, the chairman of the Zimbabwe
National Liberation War Veterans Association, criticized the
government over corruption in land distribution during his
speech, according to the independent newspaper, the Daily
News. Nyaruwata appealed to Mugabe to act against the
corrupt officials. After the speech, John Nkomo, ZANU-PF
national chairman, admonished Nyaruwata for criticizing the
government in what was supposed to have been a solidarity
speech.
CONFERENCE ATMOSPHERICS
———————–
¶5. (C) Our Australian diplomatic colleague was alarmed at
the number of guns he saw at the conference. Machine guns
were everywhere and seven bodyguards surrounded Mugabe to
within an arms length. (COMMENT: This is the most bodyguards
we have known Mugabe to have and is a revealing statement of
Mugabe’s personal sense of security, at an event attended
primarily by his own party supporters. END COMMENT.) Few
Western diplomats attended the conference–the Australian
diplomat reckons Greece (EU Acting President), Canada and
Belgium were present–but was reasonably well-attended by
some Eastern European countries, Arab and African countries,
Cuba, China, and Indonesia. As soon as Mugabe finished, most
of the diplomats left.
COMMENT
——-
¶6. (C) As expected, there was no discussion on succession or
any substantive shift on policies expressed at this year’s
conference. Conference delegates expressed concern over most
crises afflicting the country (fuel, food, and HIV) but
offered no real solutions to the problems, instead proposing
more price controls, intensified nationalization and
indigenization of businesses, and mobilization of resources
to win the Kuwadzana and Highfield parliamentary
by-elections. In a transparent attempt to boost morale at its
annual conference, Chinhoyi was flush with food and fuel,
according to the independent weekly, The Standard. Prior to
the conference, Chinhoyi suffered the same shortages as the
rest of the country (corn meal, bread, sugar, milk, meat,
chicken, and fuel).
¶7. (C) Mugabe’s attempts to fan racial hatred are troubling,
but even more worrisome is his absolutist approach to a
deteriorating economic situation over which he has decreasing
influence. Mugabe’s determination to forge on with a
“business as usual” approach is pushing his regime and this
country ever closer to the precipice. While one moderate
ZANU-PF governor cautioned us not to take the conference’s
political rhetoric too seriously, he acknowledged that he was
worried that the “situation may have slipped out of our
control.”
SULLIVAN
(17 VIEWS)
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