VZCZCXRO6575
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0296 0991650
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 081650Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2741
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 1899
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 2022
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0590
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1299
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 1656
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 2078
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 4509
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUAEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFISS/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1154
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS HARARE 000296 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
SES-O 
AF/S FOR S. HILL 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR E. LOKEN AND L. DOBBINS 
STATE PASS TO NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B. PITTMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM ASEC ZI
SUBJECT: "RELAUNCHING REVOLUTION": ZANU RHETORIC INTSENSIFIES 
 
REF: HARARE 274 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  With results for Zimbabwe's March 29 presidential 
election still unknown, the government mouthpiece The Herald 
continued its runoff campaign rhetoric in its April 8 edition.  In 
articles on the arrest of electoral commission officials for 
prejudicing ruling party results, land reform reversal by white 
farmers and opposition links to Western conspiracies, the government 
appears to be laying out its strategy for undermining the MDC and 
justifying a crackdown on the democratic political process. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On April 8, the government newspaper, The Herald, reported 
on page one that five Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) officials 
who presided at polling stations in Masvingo, Manicaland and 
Mashonaland Central provinces were arrested on April 7 "on 
allegations of tampering with electoral results and prejudicing 
ZANU-PF candidate President Mugabe of 4,993 votes cast in four 
constituencies."  Police did not provide details as to which 
constituencies were affected by the adjustment of vote tallies 
(allegedly completed after results were posted outside polling 
stations but before forwarding to the National Command Center), but, 
according to the paper, an investigation was ongoing.  The arrests 
come on the heels of an announcement by ZANU-PF that it would 
contest results in 16 House of Assembly constituencies, alleging 
that ZEC officials were bribed to alter results in favor of the 
MDC. 
 
¶3. (SBU) While the newspaper did report that police ordered war 
veterans who had seized white-owned farms in rural areas to 
withdraw, it also reminded readers of "widespread reports of hordes 
of white ex-farmers trooping back into Zimbabwe of late threatening 
to repossess farms they lost during the land reform program in the 
event that the MDC ascends to power."  Several op-ed pieces went on 
to allege that MDC presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai's main 
platform was to restore land to whites at the behest of Western 
donors, confirming "what ZANU-PF has been saying all along, that the 
MDC was formed as a consequence of misplaced economics on the part 
of the British, who believed it was cheaper to fund an opposition to 
unseat the Government than to meet the costs of land purchase in 
Zimbabwe."  The Herald's editorial decried this as a "rude awakening 
for the thousands of Zimbabweans who endorsed the MDC at the polls 
as that amounted to voting away their rights to land, and everything 
on and under it." 
 
¶4. (SBU) Additional reporting included a characterization by The 
Herald of South African President Thabo Mbeki's appeal for the 
international community to wait patiently for results as refusal to 
"criticize Zimbabwe's conduct of the elections" and a rejection of 
"a call by the MDC for international intervention in the Harare 
polls."  An op-ed entitled "Run-off: Relaunching Revolution" intoned 
that "even at it's worst showing, ZANU-PF remained invincible...this 
runoff will be a massacre for the MDC and Tsvangirai...The U.S., the 
UK and everyone else can do absolutely nothing about Tsvangirai's 
impending defeat. It's homeland or death. The revolution will 
triumph." 
 
¶5. (SBU) COMMENT:  The government appears to be continuing to lay 
out its strategy for undermining an MDC win and justifying a 
crackdown on the democratic political process.  By framing the 
opposition as a puppet of the U.K. and the United States, 
reinvigorating racial disharmony and aggravating tensions around 
land issues, ZANU-PF may be intending to play Zimbabwean's reverence 
for the liberation struggle as a main component of its campaign.  At 
the end of the day, if there is a runoff, the results may depend on 
whether ZANU-PF rigging, including intimidation and violence, can 
trump the desire of the vast majority of Zimbabweans for change. 
END COMMENT. 
 
MCGEE