Nkomo orders end of reign of terror by war vets


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John Nkomo, who was Minister of Home Affairs at the time, ordered police to arrest people who were masquerading as liberation war veterans who were going around extorting money from company owners and employees on the pretext of solving long-standing labour disputes.

Nkomo said their actions constituted extortion and kidnapping and he advised anyone who had been forced to pay money to report their experiences to the nearest police station.

He emphasised that the government would leave no stone unturned in its quest to bring the perpetrators to book.

The move seemed to have been engineered by Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge who had promised Western diplomats that the invasions would be put to an end.

 

Full cable:

 

Viewing cable 01HARARE1632, FOREIGN MINISTER INFORMS WESTERN

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Reference ID

Created

Released

Classification

Origin

01HARARE1632

2001-05-17 08:13

2011-08-30 01:44

CONFIDENTIAL

Embassy Harare

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

 

170813Z May 01

 

 

CONFIDENTIAL     PTQ3613

 

PAGE 01       HARARE 01632 01 OF 02 170805Z

ACTION AID-00

 

INFO LOG-00   NP-00   AF-00   ACQ-00   CIAE-00 COME-00 DODE-00

WHA-00   SRPP-00 DS-00   EB-00   EUR-00   FBIE-00 VC-00

TEDE-00 INR-00   LAB-01   VCE-00   NSAE-00 OES-01   SSO-00

SS-00   STR-00   TRSE-00 DSCC-00 DRL-02   NFAT-00 SAS-00

/004W

——————ECEEAD 170806Z /38

FM AMEMBASSY HARARE

TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8892

INFO NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE

SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

AMEMBASSY OTTAWA

AMEMBASSY BERLIN

AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001632

 

SIPDIS

 

NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JENDAYI FRAZER

 

LONDON FOR CHARLES GURNEY

 

PARIS FOR BISA WILLIAMS

 

PASS USAID FOR AFR/SA – C. PALMA AND N. NEWMAN

 

PASS USTR FOR ROSA WHITAKER

 

CONFIDENTIAL

 

PAGE 02       HARARE 01632 01 OF 02 170805Z

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/17/11

TAGS: PREL PGOV PINS ETRD ZI CA DA

SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER INFORMS WESTERN

AMBASSADORS OF CABINET DECISION TO REIN IN WAR VETERANS

 

REF:   (A) HARARE 1535 (NOTAL)

 

(B) HARARE 1447 (NOTAL)

 

CLASSIFIED BY CHARGE D’AFFAIRES EARL M. IRVING FOR

REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D).

 

1. (C) CANADIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER JAMES WALL TOLD

CHARGE ON MAY 16 THAT FOREIGN MINISTER STANISLAUS

MUDENGE HAD SUMMONED HIM, THE GERMAN AND DANISH

AMBASSADORS EARLIER THAT DAY TO COMMUNICATE CABINET’S

DECISION TO PUT AN END TO PELL-MELL INVASIONS OF URBAN

FIRMS BY OSTENSIBLE WAR VETERANS SEEKING PAY OUTS FOR

DISMISSED EMPLOYEES. HE EXPLAINED THAT CABINET HAD

DISCUSSED THE MATTER AND CONCLUDED THAT THERE WAS NO

HISTORICAL BASIS FOR THE INVASIONS AND THAT GOVERNMENT

STRUCTURES EXISTED TO DEAL WITH WORKERS’ COMPLAINTS.

THE FOREIGN MINISTER SAID THAT MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS

JOHN NKOMO WOULD MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO THAT EFFECT

LATER IN THE DAY.

 

2. (U) THE CHOICE OF AMBASSADORS WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT.

HIGH COMMISSIONER WALL DISAPPEARED INTO ZANU-PF HARARE

PROVINCIAL HEADQUARTERS ALONG WITH THE CANADIAN CITIZEN

DIRECTOR OF CARE ON MAY 4. A DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEE WHO

HAD BEEN LAID OFF SOUGHT REINSTATEMENT AND BACK PAY FROM

CARE THAT THE WAR VETERANS WERE HAPPY TO HELP HIM

CONFIDENTIAL

 

PAGE 03       HARARE 01632 01 OF 02 170805Z

SECURE. WHILE IN THE PARTY PROVINCIAL HEADQUARTERS WALL

PROTESTED THE KANGAROO COURT AND WAS ASSAULTED BY WAR

VETERANS (REF A). WAR VETERANS INVADED THE DANISH-OWNED

DANDY CHEWING GUM FACTORY ON MAY 11, RESULTING IN THE

FACTORY BEING CLOSED AND ALL 550 EMPLOYEES BEING

FURLOUGHED INDEFINITELY. ACCORDING TO PRESS REPORTING,

THE DANISH FOREIGN MINISTER MOGENS LYKKETOFT WROTE HIS

ZIMBABWEAN COUNTERPART PROTESTING THE INVASION. WAR

VETERANS ALSO INVADED THE OFFICES OF THE FRIEDRICH EBERT

FOUNDATION ON APRIL 23, AND LATER THE FOOD WAREHOUSE,

WHICH THEY LOOTED CLEAN, OF THE GERMAN-OPERATED NON-

GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION “HELP,” AND THE S.O.S.

CHILDREN’S VILLAGE, A GERMAN-SUPPORTED ORPHANAGE (REF

B) .

 

3. (U) AS MUDENGE PROMISED OUR DIPLOMATIC COLLEAGUES,

MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS JOHN NKOMO ON MAY 16 ORDERED

POLICE TO ARREST “PEOPLE MASQUERADING AS LIBERATION WAR

VETERANS, [WHO HAVE BEEN] GOING AROUND EXTORTING MONEY

FROM COMPANY OWNERS AND EMPLOYERS UNDER THE PRETEXT OF

SOLVING LONG-STANDING LABOUR DISPUTES.” NKOMO SAID

THEIR ACTIONS CONSTITUTED EXTORTION AND KIDNAPPING AND

HE ADVISED ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN FORCED TO PAY MONEY TO

REPORT THEIR EXPERIENCES TO THE NEAREST POLICE STATION.

NKOMO THEN EMPHASIZED THAT “WE WILL LEAVE NO STONE

UNTURNED IN OUR QUEST TO BRING THE PERPETRATORS TO

BOOK.”

 

4. (C) COMMENT: IT HAS TAKEN OVER A MONTH AND A STORM

OF PROTESTS FROM EMBASSIES AND CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS,

FOREIGN AND LOCAL, TO GET THE GOVERNMENT’S ATTENTION AND

CONFIDENTIAL

 

PAGE 04       HARARE 01632 01 OF 02 170805Z

ACTION. MANY SENIOR OFFICIALS IN GOVERNMENT ARE

DISGUSTED WITH THE TARGETING OF COMPANIES AND NGOS.

FOLLOWING ON THE HEELS OF THE RESIGNATION OF INDUSTRY

AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE MINISTER NKOSANA MOYO, WE HAVE

HEARD THAT THE PERMANENT SECRETARY IN THE MINISTRY OF

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING AND

OTHER SENIOR CIVIL SERVANTS PLAN TO SUBMIT THEIR

RETIREMENT PAPERS IMMINENTLY. IN ADDITION, VETERAN

ZANU-PF POLITICIAN EDDISON ZVOBGO RECENTLY TOLD US THAT

A NUMBER OF SENIOR GOVERNMENT PEOPLE — INCLUDING

FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MINISTER SIMBA MAKONI –

– HAVE ASKED HIM PRIVATELY HOW THEY CAN GET OUT.

DESPITE THE WIDESPREAD REALIZATION IN OFFICIAL CIRCLES

THAT THE LATEST

ITERATION OF THE GOVERNMENT’S “URBAN

CAMPAIGN” IS BACKFIRING DOMESTICALLY AND

INTERNATIONALLY, THE ULTIMATE POWER TO REIN IN THE WAR

VETERANS RESTS WITH PRESIDENT MUGABE. SINCE PRESIDENT

MUGABE LAST YEAR OVERRULED BOTH NKOMO AND VICE-PRESIDENT

MSIKA WHEN THEY VOWED TO EVICT FARM INVADERS, WE WILL

NOT INVEST MUCH OPTIMISM IN NKOMO’S ORDER THIS TIME

UNLESS IT IS FOLLOWED BY REAL ACTION ON THE GROUND. END

COMMENT.

 

CONFIDENTIAL

 

CONFIDENTIAL     PTQ3614

 

PAGE 01       HARARE 01632 02 OF 02 170806Z

ACTION AID-00

 

INFO LOG-00   NP-00   AF-00   ACQ-00   CIAE-00 COME-00 DODE-00

WHA-00   SRPP-00 DS-00   EB-00   EUR-00   FBIE-00 VC-00

TEDE-00 INR-00   LAB-01   VCE-00   NSAE-00 OES-01   SSO-00

SS-00   STR-00   TRSE-00 DSCC-00 DRL-02   NFAT-00 SAS-00

/004W

——————ECEEB0 170806Z /38

O 170813Z MAY 01

FM AMEMBASSY HARARE

TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8893

INFO NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE

SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

AMEMBASSY OTTAWA

AMEMBASSY BERLIN

AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN

 

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 02 OF 02 HARARE 001632

 

SIPDIS

 

NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JENDAYI FRAZER

 

LONDON FOR CHARLES GURNEY

 

PARIS FOR BISA WILLIAMS

 

PASS USAID FOR AFR/SA – C. PALMA AND N. NEWMAN

 

PASS USTR FOR ROSA WHITAKER

 

CONFIDENTIAL

 

PAGE 02       HARARE 01632 02 OF 02 170806Z

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/17/11

TAGS: PREL PGOV PINS ETRD ZI CA DA

SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER INFORMS WESTERN

AMBASSADORS OF CABINET DECISION TO REIN IN WAR VETERANS

 

IRVING

 

CONFIDENTIAL

 

>

 

(26 VIEWS)

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Charles Rukuni
The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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