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Viewing cable 03HARARE2236, VISIT TO ROTTEN ROW

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
03HARARE2236 2003-11-12 15:06 2011-08-30 01:44 CONFIDENTIAL Embassy Harare
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 002236 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR S. DELISI, M. RAYNOR 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER, TEITELBAUM 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2008 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON EAID EAGR ZI ZANU PF
SUBJECT: VISIT TO ROTTEN ROW 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Win Dayton under Section 1.5 (b)(d) 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY: ZANU-PF Deputy Director for External 
Relations Itai Mach on November 5 told poloff that the 
party's national conference next month would likely focus 
more on economic and land reform issues than 
personnel/leadership matters.  He suggested that informal and 
personal communications across party lines were fairly 
regular and increasingly cordial, but that the rank and file 
in both parties were lukewarm on formal talks.  He emphasized 
that the ruling party still attached the highest priority to 
land reform and was committed to rectify errors made in its 
implementation.  Mach indicated that Zimbabwe was "looking 
eastward" to hedge against its ossifying relationship with 
the West, even as it welcomed a role by the USG and others in 
stemming its economic crisis.  He inquired hypothetically 
about the prospects of a waiver of travel restrictions for 
senior party officials to travel to Washington for dialogue. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
December National Party Conference: Don't Expect Much 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
2.  (C) During a meeting with poloff on November 5 at the 
ruling party's Rotten Row headquarters, Mach said that the 
party had yet to circulate a formal agenda for its annual 
national conference scheduled to be held in Masvingo December 
4-6.  He explained that national conferences generally were 
regarded as interim meetings between Party Congresses, the 
next of which was slated for 2005.  Generally, national 
conferences did not undertake significant shifts in approach 
but could make new policies, subject to ratification at the 
Party Congress.  Notwithstanding considerable public 
speculation about the conference's implications for 
leadership changes, Mach asserted it would revolve more 
around economic and land issues rather than personnel 
matters.  Elaboration of the Utete Commission Report on Land 
Reform and its recommendations were likely to be spotlighted. 
 The leadership would brief the membership on land reform's 
progress and plans for rectifying errors in its 
implementation.  There would be some opportunity for feedback 
but the format was principally to be top-down. 
 
Land Reform: Central Priority, 
Work in Progress, Need for Outside Help 
--------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (C) Mach stressed the continuing centrality of land 
reform to the party's political platform.  The issue remained 
an emotional one for Zimbabweans, especially among the rural 
majority.  He said the party recognized that there were flaws 
in the implementation of "fast-track" reform and was sincere 
in its desire to straighten out errors and assure fairness. 
Assuring the principle of one person-one farm admittedly was 
proving a challenge despite the system's explicit 
requirements.  In the meantime, the shifting of farms as the 
principle was implemented was disrupting productivity.  (He 
himself was given a small farm at the outset of land reform, 
but was having to surrender it as a larger, potentially more 
profitable one had become available.)  Complicating the 
situation was the frequent emergence of multiple claimants to 
single parcels.  There were processes in place to regularize 
these problems but "mischievous" claimants sometimes ignored 
the processes, requiring police to sort matters out on 
occasion.  Given the numerous claimants and large acreage 
involved nationally and the "complications of colonial 
legacy", some disruptions were inevitable, Mach concluded, 
but the government was devoting considerable attention and 
resources to minimize them. 
 
4.  (C) Mach asserted that the agricultural sector needed 
help from the international community.  Produce was rotting 
in the fields as the "new farmers" lacked essential equipment 
and technology.  He conceded that "fast-track" land reform 
had alienated much needed foreign direct investment and the 
international donor community.  USG and EU sanctions on 
travel and investment contributed to Zimbabwe's 
stigmatization as an investment destination.  Mach urged the 
USG to accept the necessity of land reform in Zimbabwean 
politics; to keep the politics of rhetorical scapegoating by 
both parties in perspective; and to begin engaging 
constructively on Zimbabwe's economic reconstruction.  Only 
if people were empowered economically could they truly become 
independent actors politically. 
 
Inter-Party Relations: U.S. Can Help 
------------------------------------ 
 
5.  (C) Mach lamented that his party did not do a better job 
of selling itself to the international community.  He said 
that MDC members were guilty of many crimes of which they 
accused ZANU-PF but they had much better rapport with the 
international media and diplomatic community.  The MDC's 
reliance on the media and international community to advance 
its agenda alienated many Zimbabweans and hardened ZANU-PF's 
view that it represented foreign interests more than national 
interests.  He explained that ZANU-PF's culture was such that 
the party would not complain internationally about MDC 
misbehavior; to do so would appear weak and shift 
responsibility away from itself as the country's ruling 
party.  Instead, it preferred to  address such problems 
through the courts or negotiation; interparty violence was 
"unavoidable at times" but not the favored route and not 
always instigated by ZANU-PF in any event.  MDC elements had 
utilized violence and intimidation since the party's 
founding, he asserted, and some of his own friends had lost 
their lives to MDC violence. 
 
6.  (C) Mach asserted that the rank and file of neither party 
strongly supported an inter-party dialogue on transition or 
power-sharing.  He recognized that there could be some mutual 
benefit to dialogue but confidence-building was first 
necessary.  From ZANU-PF's perspective, the MDC needed to 
work more for Zimbabwe and less for foreign interests.  It 
should be more willing to engage on issues constructively as 
an opposition party, and not hold every issue hostage to a 
single-minded pursuit of change in government.  He urged the 
USG to facilitate inter-party confidence-building by getting 
the MDC to take a more constructive and flexible posture. 
Echoing other party officials, Mach suggested that 
elimination of the USG's targeted "smart sanctions" would go 
far in engendering good will within the party. 
 
ZANU-PF Views of the U.S.: Suspicion and Admiration 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
7.  (C) Mach recognized the constructive role historically 
played by the United States in Zimbabwe and asserted that a 
potentially important role remained open, notwithstanding the 
animus now driving bilateral relations.  He said ZANU-PF's 
leadership remembered the contributions made by the USG in 
breaking the impasse at Lancaster House in the run-up to 
independence and many were not as anti-American as official 
rhetoric would suggest.  He said even the party's rank and 
file all admired aspects of the United States and wanted to 
travel there.  Zimbabweans were envious of the American 
political system, in which winners and losers went about 
their business and respected each other even after bitterly 
fought elections.  Neither ZANU-PF nor the MDC were there 
yet, he asserted.  Aside from certain areas -- posture toward 
land reform and sexual orientation, he noted -- Americans and 
Zimbabweans shared key ideals, even if neither was able 
always to meet them. 
 
8.  (C) Nonetheless, comments about regime change and other 
rhetoric from Washington deepened suspicion about the USG 
within the party and were pushing the GOZ to a "look 
eastward" foreign policy, according to Mach.  "Eastern" 
countries were eager to build economic relations with 
Zimbabwe but did not attach distasteful political conditions 
to cooperation as did the West.  Mach observed that the 
United States had superior technology and know-how that 
Zimbabwe needed, though, and the GOZ remained open to a 
stronger relationship with the USG -- but only on "mutually 
beneficial" terms not dictated by the stronger party.  USG 
travel restrictions against party and government principals 
remained an impediment to better relations, both because of 
the negative message they sent and because they prevented the 
leadership from making its case in Washington.  Echoing party 
colleagues, Mach urged a lifting of the restrictions as a 
confidence-building measure. 
 
"Hypothetical" Inquiry on Travel by Party Principals 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
9.  (C) Mach asked about possible flexibility in the USG's 
travel sanctions, indicating that some in the party might 
want to go to Washington for dialogue with the USG or with 
international financial institutions.  He emphasized that he 
was not asking officially but wanted to understand the 
process and legal limitations in the event that somebody may 
wish to make a formal request in the future. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
10.  (C) Unlike most party apparatchiks, Mach was willing to 
meet alone with poloff.  Like those few party faithful who 
are willing to meet emboffs alone, Mach followed a formula of 
didactically recounting the centrality of land reform to 
Zimbabwean politics before shifting to a more engaging albeit 
sometimes disingenuous posture.  We assume that he was 
carrying the water of his boss, the party's mercurial 
Secretary for External Relations Didymus Mutasa, in inquiring 
 
SIPDIS 
about waivers of travel restrictions.  The inquiry may have 
reflected Mutasa's interest in opportunities for 
self-aggrandizement (he reportedly is posturing for the 
vacant vice-presidential slot) more than any calculated party 
effort to get principals to travel to Washington.  In any 
event, we do not see the internally absorbed ZANU-PF as 
willing to engage meaningfully in dialogue with the MDC or 
USG yet, even if some party elements favor interparty talks 
and/or rapprochement with the West.  We have yet to see 
evidence that the government's much ballyhooed "look 
eastward" policy is finding economically significant purchase 
with potential partners, although the GOZ makes domestic 
political hay out of supportive rhetoric from countries like 
Malaysia. 
 
Bio notes 
--------- 
 
11.  (SBU) Married with two children, Mach is from a rural 
township in Mashonaland Central -- ZANU-PF heartland.  He 
said he was lucky to have an excellent A-level teacher whose 
efforts earned him a spot in the University, where he joined 
ZANU-PF.  A party stalwart intimately familiar with and 
constrained by the party line, Mach nonetheless displayed 
candor in distinguishing between "politics" and "reality" 
during conversation and in placing the well-known histrionics 
of his mentor, Mutasa, into context. 
SULLIVAN