The United States wanted South Africa to put pressure on President Robert Mugabe to resign and to be replaced by his deputy Joice Mujuru to form a power-sharing government with the Movement for Democratic Change, according to a cable released by Wikileaks.
The message came from Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, who Mugabe had called a prostitute in May 2008, during the stalemate in implementing the Global Political Agreement which the three key parties in the Zimbabwe, the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change and the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front had agreed to on 15 September 2008.
Frazer called on the South African facilitators to push for Mugabe’s resignation in favour of his vice president, who would represent ZANU-PF in a power-sharing government.
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, however, expressed confidence that the Zimbabwe crisis was about to end.
Motlanthe expressed the view that the quick formation of a unity government, with Mugabe remaining president, was the most efficient way forward.
He was not convinced that Mugabe had discredited himself as a partner in negotiations.
MDC secretary general Tendai Biti told Frazer that the Mbeki-led power-sharing effort was dead, but neither party wanted to admit it officially.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 09PRETORIA5, SOUTH AFRICA: A/S FRAZER’S CONSULTATIONS ON
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Reference ID |
Created |
Released |
Classification |
Origin |
O 021324Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6853
INFO AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE
CIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
C O N F I D E N T I A L PRETORIA 000005
PLEASE PASS TO AF A/S FRAZER, AF/FO BANKS, AND AF/S
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2018
TAGS: PREL ASEC PGOV EAID SF ZI
SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA: A/S FRAZER’S CONSULTATIONS ON
ZIMBABWE: PROSPECTS FOR CHANGE
REF: A. 08 PRETORIA 2716
¶B. 08 PRETORIA 2134
¶C. 08 HARARE 1127
¶D. 08 HARARE 1131
¶E. 08 HARARE 1136
Classified By: Classified by Ambassador Eric M. Bost for reasons 1.4 b
and d.
¶1. (C) Summary: Visiting Assistant Secretary of State for
African Affairs Jendayi E. Frazer reached out to South
African and regional leaders to outline U.S. policy on
Zimbabwe and explain why the U.S. no longer believes
President Robert Mugabe can be part of a power sharing
solution to Zimbabwe’s crisis. Meeting with South African
President Kgalema Motlanthe and South African Development
Community (SADC) facilitator Sydney Mufumadi, Frazer pressed
for active South African leadership. African National
Congress (ANC) insider Tokyo Sexwale insisted that party
support for Mbeki as SADC facilitator has waned, a position
ANC President Zuma later confirmed. Opposition Congress of
the People (COPE) leader Mosioua Lekota claimed to be among
the first to speak out against Mugabe’s excesses. South
African-based Zimbabwean businessman Strive Masiywa and
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Secretary-General Tendai
Biti outlined the MDC action plan. End Summary.
————————————
Moving Zimbabwe to Pretoria’s Outbox
————————————
¶2. (C) Meeting with Frazer December 18, former Minister
Sydney Mufumadi discussed the recent efforts of the SADC
Zimbabwe facilitation team led by former President Thabo
Mbeki, which includes Mufumadi, Presidential Advisor Frank
Chikane, and former Presidential Foreign Policy Advisor
Mojanku Gumbi. Mufumadi expressed the view that the MDC
failed to show proper respect for SADC as the regional
decision-making body when it refused SADC’s most recent offer
involving shared control between the MDC and ZANU-PF of Home
Affairs. Frazer stressed South Africa’s dominance in SADC as
an imperative to lead. She called on the South African SADC
facilitators to push for Mugabe’s resignation in favor of his
vice president, who would represent ZANU-PF in a
power-sharing government.
¶3. (C) Meeting with Frazer on December 20, President Kgalema
Motlanthe hailed ZANU-PF’s decision to gazette Amendment 19,
establishing the framework for a power-sharing government, as
a clear sign of progress. Motlanthe expressed confidence to
Frazer that with a quick vote on Article 19 and the immediate
inauguration of MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime
Minister, the crisis in Zimbabwe will be well on the way
toward resolution. Motlanthe expressed the view that the
quick formation of a unity government, with Mugabe remaining
a president, is the most efficient way forward, and he is not
convinced that Mugabe has discredited himself as a partner in
negotiations.
————————–
MDC Backers: Mbeki Must Go
————————–
¶4. (C) South Africa-based Zimbabwean businessman Strive
Masiywa told A/S Frazer on December 18 that the MDC will not
take part in further negotiation as long as former President
Mbeki remains in charge of SADC facilitation. Masiywa also
complained that Motlanthe is sympathetic to Mbeki and does
not want to disrupt the ANC by removing Mbeki as SADC
facilitator. He added that Tsvangirai had appealed directly
to Motlanthe to remove the Mbeki team, which the MDC
considers friendly to ZANU-PF, and that Motlanthe refused.
Qconsiders friendly to ZANU-PF, and that Motlanthe refused.
Masiywa said the South Africans are not committed to a
negotiated resolution to the crisis but merely want to stage
the inauguration of Tsvangirai as prime minister as a media
event they can use to declare, prematurely, that they have
solved the Zimbabwe political crisis. Masiywa said MDC
president Morgan Tsvangirai had expected more support than he
has received from the UN and the AU and has, consequently,
decided to focus his energy on cementing the MDC’s
relationships with friendly governments, including Botswana,
Tanzania, Senegal, and Kenya to build a pro-MDC consensus in
the AU. Frazer urged that Tsvangirai either return to
Zimbabwe as soon as possible or seek alternatives to
demonstrate leadership and mobilize MDC supporters.
¶5. (C) Long-time ANC insider Tokyo Sexwale, meeting with A/S
Frazer on December 20, highlighted a recent radio interview
with ANC President Jacob Zuma in which Zuma said, “Mugabe is
no longer my comrade,” as a breakthrough, signifying that the
liberation struggle-era bond between the ZANU-PF and the ANC
is unraveling. Sexwale said he had just come from an ANC
National Executive Committee meeting wherein the ruling party
had agreed to step up efforts to resolve the crisis in
Zimbabwe. Sexwale commented that Motlanthe is “too close” to
Mbeki and like Mbeki was inclined to soft-pedal SADC
facilitation. Sexwale said he planned to call for the
removal of Mbeki as facilitator, but added that removing the
former president in a manner that preserved his dignity was
tricky. Sexwale also noted that Motlanthe, to his credit,
had publicly refuted Mugabe’s allegations that MDC is
training troops in Botswana. In response to Frazer’s call
for tougher action on the part of South Africa, Sexwale
observed that it is very difficult to know when the time is
right to close pipelines and cut electrical transmission
lines. He commented that South Africans are very uneasy
about “pulling out the tablecloth” from under their
Zimbabwean neighbors. Frazer called on Sexwale to focus on
urging Mugabe to step down as the first step toward resolving
the crisis.
—————————————-
Parties Gingerly Approach Zimbabwe Issue
—————————————-
¶6. (C) Opposition Congress of the People (COPE) leader
Mosioua Lekota, meeting with Ambassador Bost and A/S Frazer
on December 20, attempted to put the Zimbabwe crisis in
historical context. Lekota said that the coming of democracy
to South Africa in 1994 was not good news for Mugabe, who had
previously been celebrated as Africa’s foremost liberation
hero. Lekota claimed that he had been among the first to
speak out when Mugabe confiscated white-owned farms.
Comparing ZANU-PF’s politicization of ministries in Zimbabwe
to what the ANC has done within the South African civil
service, Lekota agreed with Frazer that asking the MDC to
share the Ministry of Home Affairs with ZANU-PF, in the
absence of a comprehensive power-sharing arrangement, does
not make sense. (Note: In discussing COPE’s domestic agenda,
including its fight with the ANC over the party name, and its
plans for 2009 elections, Lekota said that COPE was
considering naming its headquarters OR Tambo House, a choice
guaranteed to provoke an ANC outcry. End note).
¶7. (C) In a December 21 telephone call with Zuma, A/S Frazer
thanked Zuma for the invitation to the gala December 20
wedding of his and FM Dhlamini-Zuma’s daughter and commended
him for his radio comments indicating that Mugabe is no
longer his comrade. Zuma mentioned his conversations during
the previous week with Secretary Rice and Frazer on Zimbabwe
and indicated that he would welcome the opportunity to talk
with Frazer again on Zimbabwe in the coming weeks. (Note:
Zuma and Frazer did not have an opportunity to speak at the
wedding. End note).
——————————–
MDC’s Portrait of a Failed State
———————————-
¶8. (C) Meeting with A/S Frazer on December 21, Tendai Biti
said Zimbabwe is a failed state whose people are suffering
from diseases not seen since the early 1900s, whose
government has lost control of an increasingly dollarized
Qgovernment has lost control of an increasingly dollarized
economy, and whose military is disintegrating into corporate
factions vying for control of resources. Biti claimed that
the deterioration of Zimbabwe is accelerating, adding that
the increasingly frequent abduction of MDC activists was
unknown four-to-five months ago. Biti said that the state is
operating in an extra-legal manner and that dialogue is dead.
Biti said the sense of ZANU-PF entitlement is overwhelming,
adding that ZANU-PF knows it needs MDC in the government in
order to get out from under sanctions, but does not even go
through the motions of courting MDC — as evidenced by the
government’s refusal to issue a passport to MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
¶9. (C) Biti expressed gratitude for the tightening of U.S.
sanctions on Zimbabwe. He told Frazer that the Mbeki-led
power-sharing effort was dead, but neither party wants to
admit it officially. Biti and Frazer discussed the
possibility of passing a binding UN Security Council
Resolution on Zimbabwe once South Africa relinquishes its
seat at the end of 2008. He added that the MDC is planning a
program of grassroots engagement, along with greater
strategic use of MDC’s power in the parliament to focus
greater attention on the crisis.
10: (C) Asked about the value of the Mbeki-led facilitation
efforts, Biti praised the South African technical team that
negotiated Article Nineteen, but he pronounced the current
power-sharing deal dead. He charged that the South Africans,
having negotiated most of the details of the constitutional
change, did not even bother to consult MDC to finalize
provisions that remained in dispute but instead rushed to
have the document gazetted without informing MDC. He
described South African President Motlanthe’s eagerness to
seal the deal and inaugurate Tsvangirai as Prime Minister to
“performing a heart transplant on a dead person.” Biti said
that on September 15, the MDC might have given Mugabe the
benefit of the doubt and tried power-sharing but now a deal
is impossible.
¶11. (C) On the possibility of power-sharing with ZANU in the
event that Mugabe does step down, Biti said that “whoever
steps into Mugabe’s shoes would be better.” A/S Frazer noted
that Zuma said Mugabe is no longer his comrade. To that,
Biti remarked that if Zuma would say what Botswana’s
President Khama is saying, there would be no need for a
blockade to persuade Mugabe to step down. Frazer’s phone call
with MDC President Tsvangirai focused on MDC plans for
grassroots action and Tsvangirai’s own plans to return to
Zimbabwe.
——-
Comment
——-
¶12. (C) A/S Frazer’s press roundtable on December 21 drew
headline coverage from local and international media, capping
meetings with South Africa’s key political leaders. A/S
Frazer’s high-profile visit helped energize our engagement on
Zimbabwe. The Mission will attempt to keep up the pace of
our dialogue. End comment.
BOST
(42 VIEWS)
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