US not happy with conciliatory attitude of ZANU-PF and MDC

There was a lot of excitement when legislators from the Movement for Democratic Change attended President Robert Mugabe’s speech to Parliament on 22 July 2003 but United States embassy officials questioned the sincerity of ZANU-PF.

“It is too early to tell with what sincerity ZANU-PF is approaching the putative reconciliation with MDC. As a minimum, ZANU-PF wished to secure MDC’s attendance in parliament to provide the show of honour which means so much to Mugabe,” the embassy said in a cable released by Wikileaks.

“The Mugabe government also wished to alleviate some of the pressure it was under from South Africa and others to enter into dialogue with the MDC. ZANU would also like MDC to share the responsibility for the economic hardships the populace is facing and, ideally, to use their international ties to relieve the pressure on Zimbabwe.

“At this point, we are dubious that ZANU intends to give the MDC a genuine share of power or to enter into the sort of dialogue which addresses the serious issues of Mugabe’s legitimacy and seeks a consensus formula for addressing the issue,” embassy officials said..

“Even the usually acid-tongued ZANU-PF International Secretary Didymus Mutasa said that it would be important for the two parties to work together to find an economic way forward,” the cable added..

Full cable:

Viewing cable 03HARARE1507, HOW MUCH GIVE IN ZANU-PF OPENNESS TO DIALOGUE

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

250934Z Jul 03

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001507

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/FO AND AF/S

NSC FOR SR AFRICA ADVISER JENDAYII FRAZER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2008

TAGS: PGOV PREL ZI

SUBJECT: HOW MUCH GIVE IN ZANU-PF OPENNESS TO DIALOGUE

REF: A. (A) HARARE 1475

¶B. (B) HARARE 1491

¶C. (C) HARARE 1506

Classified By: JOSEPH G. SULLIVAN FOR REASON 1.5D

1.(C) Most Zimbabweans appear to have welcomed the signs of

openness to dialogue reflected in the MDC’s attendance at

President Mugabe’s July 22 speech to parliament (ref A). MDC

spokesmen have remained on message about their hopes that the

gesture would open the way for serious dialogue between the

parties to address the national crisis, despite the July 22

arrest (for several hours) of MDC spokesman Paul Themba-Nyati

over an MDC caricature of President Mugabe and despite

impediments posed to registration of some MDC local

government candidates(ref B). President Mugabe’s speech to

the Parliament(ref C) was relatively restrained, but highly

unrealistic. Then at a later luncheon speech that day to some

parliamentarians and others, Mugabe was somewhat more

explicit about his pleasure that MDC had attended the

parliamentary session and his hope that ZANU-PF and MDC would

work together in parliament.

2.(U) The state media net also went into overdrive, lauding

the signs of national reconciliation. Even the usually

acid-tongued ZANU-PF International Secretary Didymus Mutasa

said that it would be important for the two parties to work

together to find an economic way forward. He did not object

to the MDC maintaining its lawsuit against the conduct of the

2002 presidential election, but he called for the MDC to

secure “from its handlers” the removal of economic sanctions

against Zimbabwe” and rejected the MDC’s statement that they

would seek an honorable exit for President Mugabe. State

media on July 24 picked up the theme that the MDC must

demonstrate its patriotism by securing an end to sanctions

against Zimbabwe, while Information Minister Jonathan Moyo

diverted from the mostly conciliatory tone by labeling the

MDC a “hitherto treasonous party” which must stop “sabotaging

the economy” and claiming that the public is “tired of MDC

lies and hallucinations.”

3.(C) Comment: It is too early to tell with what sincerity

ZANU-PF is approaching the putative reconciliation with MDC.

As a minimum, ZANU-PF wished to secure MDC’s attendance in

parliament to provide the show of honor which means so much

to Mugabe. The Mugabe Government also wished to alleviate

some of the pressure it was under from South Africa and

others to enter into dialogue with the MDC. ZANU would also

like MDC to share the responsibility for the economic

hardships the populace is facing and, ideally, to use their

international ties to relieve the pressure on Zimbabwe. At

this point, we are dubious that ZANU intends to give the MDC

a genuine share of power or to enter into the sort of

dialogue which addresses the serious issues of Mugabe’s

legitimacy and seeks a consensus formula for addressing the

issue. This tentative judgment could change depending on the

amount of external pressure Mugabe comes under, particularly

from President Mbeki who has been lionized of late in the

state media for his advocacy of “African solutions to African

problems” and alleged resistance to American and British

impositions. The rapidly unraveling economic situation will

also put additional pressures on the GOZ, next when

Zimbabweans are unable to access the salary deposits made in

their bank accounts at the end of the month. (Bankers told

us yesterday told us they feared that riots could break out

when the currency shortage hits even harder with the

increased and unmeetable demand for cash from account holders

after end-month salary deposits.)

SULLIVAN

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