P 121452Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6914
INFO AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN PRIORITY 
AMCONSUL DURBAN PRIORITY 
AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG PRIORITY 
DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRETORIA 000043 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF A/S J. FRAZER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2019 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PREL ZANU SF ZM
SUBJECT: MDC WILL STAY THE COURSE 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Eric M. Bost.  Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 
Standing Committee, consisting of 19 leaders, met near 
Johannesburg, South Africa for a strategy meeting from 
January 6-8, 2009.  In a January 9 meeting with Ambassador 
Bost, MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai said the party leaders 
resolved to stick to its current position on joining a unity 
government only if Zanu-PF comes to agreement on previously 
stated outstanding issues.  MDC expects that the parties will 
not come to agreement on outstanding issues and is preparing 
to implement Plan B - increasing pressure, domestically and 
internationally, on the regime led by Zimbabwean President 
Robert Mugabe.  Although Tsvangirai sees South Africa as the 
key to international pressure, he expects no change in 
Zimbabwe policy under President Kgalema Motlanthe and is 
uncertain whether it will change with the administration of 
African National Congress (ANC) President Jacob Zuma, who is 
expected to win presidential elections this year.  Tsvangirai 
plans to return to Zimbabwe on January 15 or 16.  End summary. 
 
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SOUTH AFRICA UNHELPFUL 
---------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) MDC's plan A focuses on settling outstanding issues 
with Mugabe before joining a unity government.  Tsvangirai 
told Ambassador Bost he has not received a response to his 
letter requesting Motlanthe to host a meeting between 
Tsvangirai and Mugabe to resolve outstanding issues.  When 
pressed, he said he did not think Motlanthe would agree to 
this request. 
 
¶3. (C) Tsvangirai said South Africa is the only country that 
can change the situation in Zimbabwe, but he was skeptical 
that South Africa would use its power to pressure Zanu-PF. 
He said the South African Government (SAG) was structurally 
the same under Motlanthe as it was under former President 
Thabo Mbeki, with many of the same decision-makers.  He 
thinks Mbeki is still driving SAG policy on Zimbabwe from 
behind the scenes.  According to Tsvangirai, the SAG 
leadership continues to protect Mugabe because they think 
Mugabe is not the problem, rather part of the solution to the 
crisis in Zimbabwe.  Ambassador Bost asked Tsvangirai for his 
interpretation of South Africa's motivations in regards to 
Zimbabwe policy.  Tsvangirai said South Africa was committed 
to the solidarity of liberation movements and as a liberation 
party, Zanu-PF must be given the opportunity to recreate 
itself.  He explained that Mbeki's policy on Zimbabwe was 
built on an anti-Western precept and the policy has not 
changed under Motlanthe's leadership. 
 
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TSVANGIRAI UNCERTAIN ABOUT ZUMA POLICY ON ZIMBABWE 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶4. (C) Ambassador Bost asked Tsvangirai whether South 
Africa's posture on Zimbabwe would change under Zuma's 
leadership.  He said he engages Zuma on a regular basis, but 
Zuma remains outside of the SAG's policy-making circle. 
Tsvangirai said he and Zuma are "equally frustrated" with the 
SAG's Zimbabwe policy.  Under Zuma's administration, 
Tsvangirai expects a greater push for resolution of the 
Zimbabwe crisis.  However, he said, "I haven't picked out 
what Zuma thinks is the solution." 
 
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FORGET THE LEADERSHIP, GO TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN PEOPLE 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶5. (C) Tsvangirai signaled a tactical change for winning 
South Africa's support.  He said, "Perhaps we are making a 
mistake by talking to the leadership."  MDC plans to reach 
out to civil society, including the Congress of South African 
Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party, in an 
effort to intensify South African public pressure on its own 
government.  When Ambassador Bost asked him whether MDC would 
engage the ANC's rival party, the Congress of the People 
(COPE), Tsvangirai said he was doubtful COPE could help, but 
would "have to" meet with them because they are part of civil 
society.  Tsvangirai said the SAG would be more responsive to 
the South African people than to MDC. 
 
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MUGABE NOT EXPECTED TO AGREE TO MDC DEMANDS 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) On January 8, MDC Treasurer Roy Bennett, who attended 
the strategy meeting, told poloff although MDC does not 
expect Zanu-PF to agree to its demands, the party does not 
want to be perceived as the "spoiler" of the GPA by walking 
away from negotiations.  That line of thinking is consistent 
with Tsvangirai's comments regarding unaccounted-for 
abductees.  He told Ambassador Bost he thought it was 
significant that the public now knows the state is 
responsible for abductions of MDC supporters and other civil 
society members.  He indicated no intention of following 
through on his threat to suspend negotiations and contact 
with Zanu-PF if all abductees were not released or charged by 
January 1, 2009. 
 
¶7. (C) Bennett reiterated to poloff some of MDC's outstanding 
issues: equity in allocation of governors, equal distribution 
of ministerial portfolios, the constitution and composition 
of the National Security Council and appointment of senior 
government officials. (Note: Outstanding issues Bennett did 
not mention are a sunset clause on any Government of National 
Unity and rescission of Mugabe's appointment of Johannes 
Tomana as attorney general and reappointment of Gideon Gono 
as central bank governor.)  Bennett said MDC would not share 
the Ministry of Home Affairs as instructed by the Southern 
African Development Community (SADC) following its November 9 
summit. (Note: MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa and Tsvangirai's 
chief lawyer Innocent Chagonda have expressed to Embassy 
Harare a willingness to share Home Affairs.) 
 
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MDC VAGUE ON STRATEGY TO INCREASE PRESSURE ON ZANU-PF 
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¶8. (C) In light of Mugabe's publicly-stated intention to form 
a government unilaterally by the end of February, the MDC is 
gearing up to increase pressure on Zanu-PF to give up power 
as per plan B, according to Bennett.  Tsvangirai told 
Ambassador Bost they would pressure Mugabe until he changes 
his "paradigm."  He said, "We are reaching a tipping point 
where Mugabe has no option but to settle the crisis or the 
country will plunge into the unknown."  Tsvangirai believes 
the collapse of the local currency and subsequent 
dollarization of the economy will force the regime to concede 
power as it does not have the capacity to cover the 
government payroll using U.S. dollars.  Tsvangirai 
acknowledged the resilience of Mugabe and Zanu-PF.  He said 
during the 1998-2000 timeframe, "(MDC leaders) were so naive. 
 We thought we were just going to vote Mugabe out.  We 
underestimated the depth and determination of this group." 
Tsvangirai said former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo 
told him in a recent meeting that he thinks Mugabe wants to 
die in office. 
 
¶9. (C) In spite of Ambassador Bost's efforts to elicit a 
specific plan of action, Tsvangirai was vague about how MDC 
would increase pressure on the Mugabe regime, saying only 
that fighting a dictatorship using democratic means is 
difficult, like "fighting with your bare hands."  Bennett 
said MDC would enact a 90 day plan, culminating at the end of 
March in mass demonstrations in every province to coincide 
with the celebration of the party's 10th anniversary.  He 
said MDC would conduct an internal party audit to determine 
Qsaid MDC would conduct an internal party audit to determine 
and fill gaps in the party structure created by loss of party 
leaders at the provincial, district, and ward levels. 
Bennett said the party would use its majority position in 
Parliament to pass bills and repeal laws in an effort to put 
the regime on the defensive. 
 
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MDC REQUESTS RESOURCES 
---------------------- 
 
¶10. (C) Ambassador Bost asked Tsvangirai what the MDC wanted 
from the USG.  Tsvangirai's only response was "resources." 
Bennett made the same appeal, emphasizing the danger of the 
party becoming beholden to individuals who make large 
donations that come with "conditions."  Bennett thanked the 
USG for sanctions, which he said were "extremely effective". 
He offered as an example that sanctions target John 
Bredencamp had approached him, proposing an exchange of 
information for support to get him off the sanctions list. 
Bennett said the information was regarding companies that 
were being blackmailed into financing Zanu-PF.  He offered to 
share more concrete information with poloff in the future. 
 
¶11. (C) Bennett said the Standing Committee used the meeting 
to solve internal problems, including agreement to channel 
all incoming and outgoing funds through the party treasury as 
some funding had been given directly to individual MDC 
members.  Bennett asked whether US Embassy Pretoria could 
transfer funding proposals from MDC-South Africa to USAID 
Harare.  He said it was safer and more secure to conduct 
business in South Africa than in Zimbabwe.  Poloff agreed to 
raise this with Mission Harare. 
 
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TSVANGIRAI TALKS TO EUROPEANS ABOUT MUGABE AND ELECTIONS 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶12. (C) In a meeting on January 9 with European and 
Australian diplomats, Tsvangirai said MDC would accept a 
power-sharing government that included Mugabe, according to 
Australian political officer Matthew Skelly.  Tsvangirai also 
told them that calls from the international community for 
Mugabe to step down were not helpful, according to Skelly. 
(Note: Some observers of the Zimbabwe crisis have criticized 
Western countries for their statements calling for Mugabe to 
step down.  They say this provokes Mugabe to take an even 
more intransigent position in the power-sharing negotiations 
and plays into Mugabe's hands by adding ammunition to his 
favorite denouncement of MDC as a puppet of the West.) 
Tsvangirai told them the MDC was not aiming for fresh 
elections at this stage because they would end up in the same 
place they are now with Mugabe refusing to cede power.  In a 
direct contradiction, Bennett told poloff MDC would lobby the 
international community for a UN Security Council resolution, 
more sanctions and using their good offices to influence the 
Southern African Development Community (SADC) member 
countries with the end goal of internationally-supervised 
elections. 
 
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TSVANGIRAI'S RETURN TO ZIMBABWE 
------------------------------- 
 
¶13. (C) Tsvangirai said he plans to return to Zimbabwe on 
January 15 or 16.  (Note: Tsvangirai appeared perturbed when 
asked about his return to Zimbabwe, defending his decision to 
stay outside by saying that leading a struggle such as this 
one "has been done before" from outside the country. 
According to Skelly, Tsvangirai snapped at the British 
diplomat who asked about this when she pressed him for a more 
specific timeframe than the vague response he gave.)  Bennett 
said Tsvangirai would return first to Botswana to meet with 
President Seretse Khama before returning to Zimbabwe. 
Tsvangirai did not mention a return to Botswana.  Neither 
Tsvangirai nor Bennett had definitive knowledge of Mugabe's 
location or travel plans. 
 
¶14. (C) Comment: Tsvangirai did not articulate a strategy for 
achieving MDC's objective of pressuring Zanu-PF into giving 
up power nor did he convey a sense of urgency despite 
conditions on the ground in Zimbabwe.  In separate meetings, 
both he and Bennett said MDC leaders were tired.  Tsvangirai 
seemed satisfied with the strategy meeting and hopeful MDC 
would win out in the end.  Of concern is the fact that 
Tsvangirai and Bennett provided apparently conflicting 
information about MDC objectives.  After three days together, 
the MDC leadership is still unable to deliver a consistent 
message regarding its playbook. 
 
 
BOST