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RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0911/01 3281053
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241053Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5151
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 3175
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 3287
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 1714
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 2548
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 2917
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 3335
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 5783
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2467
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000911 
 
AF/S FOR B. WALCH 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR L.DOBBINS AND J. HARMON 
COMMERCE FOR ROBERT TELCHIN 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC PHUM ECON ZI
SUBJECT: ZIM NOTES 11-23-2009 
 
----------- 
¶1.  SUMMARY 
----------- 
 
Topics of the week: 
 
Talks Expected This Weekend... 
ZANU-PF Fills Out Top Posts... 
Bennett's Trial Begins... 
State Continues to Block Release of MDC Official... 
Striking Lawyers Protest... 
German Priest Assaulted by Soldiers... 
Old Cases Against Activists Revived... 
Reserve Bank Bill Passes Parliament with Major Concession... 
Exorcism for Ghost Workers... 
Who's Afraid of the Zim dollar? 
 
--------------------------------- 
On the Political and Social Front 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  Despite a SADC directive laid out in Maputo on November 6, 
principal negotiators from MDC-T, MDC-M, and ZANU-PF have not yet 
met to resolve outstanding issues, mostly because the negotiators 
have not been in Harare at the same time. We expect meetings over 
the weekend will begin the political dialogue ahead of a visit by 
South African President Jacob Zuma in the next couple of weeks. 
 
¶3.  The State-owned press announced this week that ZANU-PF filled 
both vice president positions and the position of national party 
chairman in advance of the five-year ZANU-PF Congress which was 
pushed back by a week until December 16 to 20. Vice President Joyce 
Mujuru retained her seat despite a challenge from Defense Minister 
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who threw his support behind Oppah Muchinguri. 
The seat vacated on the death of Joseph Msika in August will be 
filled by current party chairman John Nkomo. The ambassador to South 
Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo, will then rotate into the vacant 
chairmanship. While the Mujuru and Nkomo moves were anticipated, 
Moyo's appointment was less predictable because there were other 
more senior candidates contesting for the position. His appointment 
also put to rest speculation that the party would terminate the 
precedent of splitting the top four party positions between ZANU-PF 
and former PF-ZAPU officials. Moyo is viewed as allied with the 
Mujuru camp, and his election is seen as a blow to Mnangagwa. 
 
¶4.  The prosecution's case against MDC-T's deputy agriculture 
minister-designate Roy Bennett began this week. The judge ruled 
police accounts of statements by alleged co-conspirator Peter 
Hitschmann implicating Bennett were inadmissible as hearsay. 
Hitschmann, who was previously acquitted, is expected to testify 
next week. He has submitted an affidavit to the Court that 
statements he made to police that he was involved with Bennett in 
anti-State actions were a result of torture, and that he and Bennett 
did not conspire to overthrow the government. 
 
¶5.  MDC Transport manager Pascal Gwezere, who was abducted on 
October 27 and discovered in a Harare jail on October 31, continues 
to languish in prison as prosecutors fight bail and prison officials 
refuse to allow access to a private physician. He is reportedly 
suffering from sepsis in his leg caused by a wound inflicted by 
security agents. High Court Judge Hungwe is set to rule on Gwezere's 
Qsecurity agents. High Court Judge Hungwe is set to rule on Gwezere's 
bail application on November 20. However, Gwezere's lawyer, Alec 
Muchadehama, told us that the prosecution is likely to appeal 
against bail to keep him in prison. 
 
¶6.  On November 16, more than 70 members of the Law Society went on 
strike and marched through the first downpour of the rainy season in 
Harare to present a petition of protest to Minister of Justice 
Patrick Chinamasa (ZANU-PF) over the harassment, arrest and 
detention of lawyers, for what the lawyers say is simply carrying 
 
HARARE 00000911  002 OF 003 
 
 
out their professional duties. Chinamasa was not available. The 
petition cites the arrest of four lawyers so far this year. 
 
¶7.  On November 15 in Banket, four soldiers violently assaulted a 
well-known Catholic priest and German citizen, Father Wolfgang 
Thamm, after they stopped his car. One soldier took his glasses and 
hit him in the face. The soldiers then forced him to kneel in a 
puddle of water. When he hesitated, they pushed him into the water 
and kicked him in his stomach. The German embassy protested the 
incident to the government. 
 
¶8.  32 activists from civil society in Gweru have been summoned to 
appear in court on November 20 over a peaceful demonstration they 
held in December last year. The activists were arrested on December 
3, 2008 and charged with contravening the Public Order and Security 
Act, but were later released on bail and informed that the court 
would proceed by way of summons. Now, however, activists are being 
summoned to appear in court for destruction of property and chanting 
insults against the person of the president. NGOs and trade unions 
have reported similar revivals of old cases in recent weeks. 
 
 
 
----------------------------------- 
On the Economic and Business Front 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  Parliament passed a bill amending the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe 
Act. The new law will curtail the powers of the central bank 
governor by setting up of an independent board and confining the 
bank to dealing with interest rates, currency management, and 
banking supervision. In exchange for passing the bill, ZANU-PF 
legislators forced Finance Minister Biti to absolve employees of the 
bank of any wrongdoing for anything they did "in good faith" and 
without negligence. In comments to the press, Biti downplayed the 
immunity deal, saying it did not cover acts of theft or fraud. 
 
¶10.  According to the Director of the Labor and Economic Development 
Institute of Zimbabwe, the long awaited civil service audit will be 
conducted between November 30 and December 18 at an estimated cost 
of US$4 million. The audit, which will cover all civil servants 
regulated by the Public Service Act and the Health Services Act but 
exclude the uniformed forces, is designed to flush out ghost workers 
and ZANU-PF supporters who have been receiving salaries without 
providing any actual service to the state. The audit will require 
the production of birth certificates, national identity documents, 
pay slips, letters of appointment, and academic or professional 
certificates. 
 
¶11.  Nearly everyone, it seems. Nine months after the withdrawal of 
the worthless local currency, many worry that the Reserve Bank of 
Zimbabwe will suddenly revive it. In just the past few days we have 
had questions about this from bankers, school children, and 
housewives. During the MDC's recent disengagement from ZANU-PF, 
there were persistent rumors in Harare that the RBZ had already 
printed a large quantity of new banknotes (in Mauritius, of all 
Qprinted a large quantity of new banknotes (in Mauritius, of all 
place, in one version of the tale) and had them delivered by 
airfreight. While the story is hard to swallow, the persistence of 
such rumors in Harare is good evidence of how fragile the 
transitional government seems to many people. 
 
 
 
 
----------------- 
Quote of the Week 
----------------- 
 
¶12.  "We face very hostile interventions by these states which have 
imposed unilateral sanctions on us.... this has had a negative 
 
HARARE 00000911  003 OF 003 
 
 
impact on our farmers who, according to our neo-colonialist enemies, 
must fail so as to damn the land reforms we have undertaken." 
--President Robert Mugabe, speaking at the UN Food Summit in Italy 
on November 17. Mugabe attended the summit with a delegation of 60 
Zimbabweans. 
 
 RAY