Who done it?

There was confusion about who had attacked pro-Senate Member of Parliament Trudy Stevenson with her faction accusing the Morgan Tsvangirai faction and that faction accusing the government of hiring thugs to do it.

Even pro-Tsvangirai United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell acknowledged that early indications suggested that MDC youths may in fact have carried out the attack.

He said it was also plausible that the government may have paid unemployed youths to stage the attack.

Stevenson herself exonerated the Tsvangirai faction accusing her faction of “making a song out of it”.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 06HARARE803, VICTIMIZED MP DOWNPLAYS TSVANGIRAI LINK IN PRIVATE

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C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 000803

SIPDIS

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AF/S FOR B. NEULING

SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2015

TAGS: ASEC PGOV PHUM PREL ZI

SUBJECT: VICTIMIZED MP DOWNPLAYS TSVANGIRAI LINK IN PRIVATE

EVEN AS HER FACTION UPS PUBLIC HYPE

REF: HARARE 791

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

¶1. (SBU) Pro-Senate MDC MP Trudy Stevenson on July 7 told

USAID local staff member that she did not believe the

anti-Senate leadership ordered the July 2 attack on her and

four other pro-Senate officials (reftel). Recovering at home

and in high spirits, she said it was even possible that the

GOZ had paid unemployed youths in the MDC to attack her.

Nonetheless, she admitted that her pro-Senate faction was

“making a song out of it.” (N.B. For instance, pro-Senate

MDC spokesman Gabriel Chaibva was quoted in the

state-controlled The Sunday Mail as stating that the

anti-Senate faction’s alleged involvement was a “conspiracy

against the people of Zimbabwe.”)

¶2. (SBU) Stevenson also gave a readout of her son’s July 3

meeting with anti-Senate faction leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

She said the opposition leader had expressed his outrage at

the incident. Tsvangirai had pledged to her son that the

party would set up a commission to investigate the attack and

would expel any party members found guilty. Stevenson also

acknowledged that many of the anti-Senate MDC leaders had

visited her to express their sympathies and to condemn the

violence.

¶3. (SBU) The USAID local staff member also met July 9 at the

Ambassador,s direction with Tsvangirai with a message that

the opposition leader needed to be more forceful and public

in his condemnation of the attack. Tsvangirai told the staff

member that the ruling party was to blame for creating a

culture of violence through years of GOZ manipulation and

destruction of rule of law in Zimbabwe. That said, he

condemned violence in general and said that his party had

issued two press statements condemning this incident in

particular. However, Tsvangirai said he recognized that the

allegations were a diversion from his party’s campaign

against the GOZ and promised a swift investigation and, if

necessary, expulsions.

¶4. (SBU) Irene Petras, one of three lawyers assigned to the

anti-Senate MDC’s investigation commission, on July 10 told

an Embassy local staff member that the committee met over the

weekend for the first time and charted the course of their

investigations. The commission hoped to interview the

victims on July 11 and had applied to receive copies of the

police records of the event. Petras promised to update Post

as events unfolded.

——-

Comment

——-

¶5. (C) Regardless of Stevenson’s private message to us

disassociating the anti-Senate MDC leadership from the

incident, the pro-Senate faction of the MDC is definitely

hyping the attack in a clear effort to score political

points. Although early indications suggest that MDC youths

may in fact have carried out the attack, we have seen nothing

to suggest that the anti-Senate faction condoned it.

Moreover, it is entirely plausible that the GOZ may have paid

unemployed MDC youths to stage the attack. The Ambassador

plans to meet with Tsvangirai July 10 (septel) to press the

point that the opposition leader needs to be more outspoken

in condemning the attack.

DELL

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