Eddison Zvobgo Junior told United States embassy officials that President Robert Mugabe had no intention of leaving office but the security of his tenure depended on the continued loyalty of the warring Joice Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa factions.
As a result Mugabe would avoid anointing either as successor while leaving the door open to both.
Zvobgo said the aspiring successors were growing impatient but remained unwilling to risk their long-term prospects by challenging Mugabe directly and urging his retirement.
Zvobgo Junior said this six years ago and up to now there is no clear successor.
Mujuru remains on paper the clear successor as Vice-President but Mnangagwa seems to be running the state.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 06HARARE670, ZVOBGO ON STASIS, PROSPECTS FOR CHANGE IN ZANU-PF
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Reference ID |
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Classification |
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VZCZCXRO0826
PP RUEHMR
DE RUEHSB #0670/01 1581415
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 071415Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0170
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 1226
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 1062
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 1232
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0490
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 0856
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1283
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 3655
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1055
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 1694
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC//DHO-7//
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1441
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK//DOOC/ECMO/CC/DAO/DOB/DOI//
RUEPGBA/CDR USEUCOM INTEL VAIHINGEN GE//ECJ23-CH/ECJ5M//
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000670
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
AF/S FOR B. NEULING
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE
AFR/SA FOR E. LOKEN
COMMERCE FOR BECKY ERKUL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2011
SUBJECT: ZVOBGO ON STASIS, PROSPECTS FOR CHANGE IN ZANU-PF
REF: (A) HARARE 266 (B) 05 HARARE 1290
Classified By: Charge d’Affaires, a.i., Eric T. Schultz under Section 1
.4 b/d
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Summary
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¶1. (C) ZANU-PF businessperson and provincial official Eddie
Zvobgo told poloff June 1 that the ruling party would remain
in disarray and paralyzed by succession tensions until Mugabe
passed from the scene. However, he did not believe Mugabe
intended to leave office any time soon. Moreover, neither of
the party’s competing factions had sufficient strength or
courage to press for Mugabe’s early retirement. Nor was it
realistic to expect any push from ZANU-PF,s grass-roots
supporters. Zvobgo reiterated that Mugabe’s successor would
seek re-engagement with the West but cautioned that he/she
would have to pay homage to Mugabe’s legacy rhetorically and
pursue reforms cautiously in order to survive politically.
End Summary.
——————————————
Succession Strains Still Paralyzing Policy
——————————————
¶2. (C) The son of Mugabe’s greatest intra-party critic, now
deceased, Zvobgo cast the ruling party as still paralyzed by
the uncertainty of succession. Although succession was on
everyone’s mind, it continued to be a mum subject officially.
Indeed, mistrust within the party and the high stakes
involved meant that very few ZANU-PF leaders could even
discuss the matter among each other.
¶3. (C) According to Zvobgo, in this largely paranoid
environment, the rare policy initiatives and deliberations
that occurred within the party revolved around misguided
posturing to curry favor with Mugabe. Zvobgo offered the
GOZ’s recently announced “Operation Round-up” (ref A) as an
example. The GOZ’s announced figure of 10,000 in detention
was vastly exaggerated, which suggested the media report was
deliberate hyperbole from a police official trying to appear
responsive to the president.
¶4. (C) Zvobgo claimed the pending mining and education bills
— each disastrous in his view — were also misguided
attempts to appeal to Mugabe in the absence of clear policy
direction from the top. Zvobgo maintained that Mugabe’s
refusal to weigh in decisively on such issues underscored his
priority on keeping ministers off balance at the expense of
national development.
¶5. (C) For his part, Mugabe continued to exploit these
dynamics masterfully, according to Zvobgo. Mugabe had no
intention of leaving office and the security of his tenure in
office depended on the continued loyalty of the warring
Mujuru and Mnangagwa factions. To that end, Mugabe would
avoid anointing either as successor while leaving the door
open to both. Zvobgo said the aspiring successors were
growing impatient but remained unwilling to risk their
long-term prospects by challenging Mugabe directly and urging
his retirement.
——————————-
No Push from ZANU-PF Grassroots
——————————-
¶6. (C) Zvobgo added that the party’s grassroots were no more
HARARE 00000670 002 OF 002
of an impetus for change than its leadership. Though many
Zimbabweans embraced capitalism, most remained mired in a
feudal culture that revolved around patronage. Zvobgo
elaborated that every public rally and private engagement he
had with constituents revolved around who could do what for
whom. Policies and principles — much less succession —
were never discussed. None in the party and few outside it
questioned the centrality of relationships and patronage to
politics. Zvobgo claimed that MDC leaders and supporters
were hemmed in by the same constraints.
¶7. (C) Zvobgo said GOZ agricultural policy, which seemed
senseless to outsiders, was best understood in the context of
the patronage mentality hard-wired into the Zimbabwean
psyche. National production figures were not as important as
the appearance of delivering land to one,s constituents.
Most Zimbabweans resided in rural areas and saw land, more
than cattle or other indicia of wealth, as the measure of
one’s power and prestige. That the system as implemented
horribly disadvantaged the vast majority of Zimbabweans was
irrelevant to the political elites and grass roots alike.
—————————————-
Post-Succession Reform to be Complicated
—————————————-
¶8. (C) Looking to the future, Zvobgo cautioned that in his
view the country might not change direction upon Mugabe’s
passing as quickly as many might desire. All Zimbabweans
would breathe a sigh of relief on Mugabe’s passing, but the
leadership — whoever emerged — would likely have to
continue to orient itself around ZANU-PF’s liberation
rhetoric. Overt rejection of Mugabe’s legacy — land reform
and “anti-colonial” themes — would be tantamount to
political suicide, even for the MDC.
¶9. (C) Zvobgo asserted that the successor nonetheless would
have no choice but to reach out quietly to the West and to
embrace reform. Mugabe,s successor would have to walk a
fine line, outflanking the hardliners rhetorically while
pursuing the necessary reforms. Zimbabwe’s best hope lay in
a &Deng Xiaoping-like8 figure that would cleave to his
predecessor’s legacy rhetorically while fundamentally
changing Mugabe,s policies. Zvobgo urged the West to ignore
the rhetoric and give Mugabe,s successor a chance when the
time came.
——-
Comment
——-
¶10. (C) Zvobgo’s closing pitch for patience with a successor
was probably intended to lay a future foundation for Joyce
Mujuru, still the leading successor candidate from the
faction to which Zvobgo is aligned. The Mujurus had seemed
to be in the driver,s seat in the successinom game up until
a few months ago. However, Zvobgo,s patrons are probably
not too happy with the recent signals that Mugabe is
rehabilitating their main rival, Emmerson Mnangagwa. For
Zvobgo and other keen observers of Zimbabwean politics,
Mugabe,s continuing to play the two rival factions against
each other is the surest sign yet that the octogenarian
president is not committed to an early retirement, despite
what he,s said publicly and despite the hopes of the
long-suffering Zimbabwean people.
SCHULTZ
(30 VIEWS)
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