Tsvangirai won first round

Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round when High Court Justice Yunus Omerjee dismissed the court case seeking to bar him from conducting party business following a follow-out with the pro-senate faction of his party.

The pro-senate faction wanted to contest the senate elections but Tsvangirai did not want to participate.

Omerjee also ordered that former MDC deputy secretary general Gift Chimanikire in whose name the application was submitted to pay the court fees.

He said that Chimanikire had no authority to bring the case forward on the MDC’s behalf.

Chimanikire told journalists that an appeal was imminent, but allied MDC MP Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said that the pro-Senate faction was thinking twice about continued legal battles.

Misihairabwi-Mushonga conceded that Omerjee made the correct decision based on the information presented before him.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 05HARARE1673, COURT SIDES WITH TSVANGIRAI, OPPONENTS PLOT NEXT

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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 HARARE 001673

SIPDIS

AF/S FOR B. NEULING

SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2015

TAGS: PGOV PREL ZI MDC

SUBJECT: COURT SIDES WITH TSVANGIRAI, OPPONENTS PLOT NEXT

STEPS

REF: HARARE 001662

Classified By: Ambassador Christopher Dell for reasons 1.5 b/d

¶1. (SBU) High Court Justice Yunus Omerjee on December 9

dismissed the court case seeking to bar Morgan Tsvangirai

from conducting MDC party business (reftel). Omerjee also

ordered that former MDC deputy secretary general Gift

Chimanikire ) in whose name the application was submitted )

pay the court fees. In his judgment, the justice noted that

Chimanikire had no authority to bring the case forward on the

MDC,s behalf. Responding to the judgment in his favor,

Tsvangirai told journalists &the people,s will has once

SIPDIS

again triumphed.8

¶2. (C) Chimanikire initially responded to the ruling by

telling journalists that an appeal was imminent, but allied

MDC MP Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga told post on December

12 that the pro-Senate faction was thinking twice about

continued legal battles. Misihairabwi-Mushonga conceded that

Omerjee made the correct decision based on the information

presented before him. To this end, the pro-Senate faction

blamed their chief legal council, Advocate Garikayi Mandizha,

for not presenting all the information in the case. Rather

than continue the legal battle in the GOZ-manipulated courts,

Misihairabwi-Mushonga said that arbitration was a good

possibility and that former mediator Brian Raftopolous could

be asked to oversee the division of party resources.

¶3. (SBU) Meanwhile, the party disciplinary committee hearing

against Ncube, Chimanikire, and other pro-Senate leaders has

been postponed one week to December 17 to allow the

faction,s lawyers to prepare their case.

——-

Comment

——-

¶4. (C) By all accounts an MDC split is inevitable. However,

if the competing MDC factions go their separate ways

relatively amicably, it could help the opposition,s

effectiveness. A protracted and potentially violent divorce

would only serve to weaken the anti-Mugabe forces, a scenario

that ZANU-PF is probably counting on and may well be

encouraging.

DELL

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