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R 081235Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4575
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 2305
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 2872
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 2991
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RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2163
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RHMFISS/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000472 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR B. WALCH 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR MICHELLE GAVIN 
TREASURY FOR D. PETERS 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LDOBBINS AND JHARMON 
COMMERCE FOR BECKY ERKUL 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC PHUM EAGR ECON EFIN ZI
SUBJECT: ZIM NOTES 06-05-09 (Corrected) 
 
---------------------------- 
SUMMARY - Topics of the week 
---------------------------- 
 
APOLOGIES - Harare 467 should have read Zim Notes 05-22-09. 
 
- CODEL Payne Visits Zimbabwe 
- Tsvangirai World Tour Kicking Off 
- Farmers Going Back to SADC for Enforcement of Ruling 
- MDC-T Annual Conference Concludes 
- High Court to Rule on Legal Status of MIC 
- Ivory and Diamond Smugglers Arrested 
- Abductees Re-Abducted 
- "Drop the Sanctions" Drumbeat Going Strong 
- Brits Clarify Sanctions 
- Still Deflation in April, but Fuel Prices Rising 
- USDA's 2009 Zimbabwe Crop Assessment 
- Lively Discussion at Indigenization Forum 
- The End of Look East 
- Cabinet Approves Privatization of Parastatals 
- Bloch Calls Gideon Gono a Genius 
- Quote of the Week 
 
----------------------------- 
On the Political/Social Front 
----------------------------- 
 
¶1.  CODEL Payne Visits Zimbabwe:  Chairman of the House 
Sub-Committee on Africa and Global Health, Donald Payne and three 
professional congressional staffers visited Zimbabwe May 29-31.  The 
delegation met with President Mugabe (Harare 456), Prime Minister 
Morgan Tsvangirai, a number of senior government officials, and 
business and civil society leaders.  This was the first CODEL Post 
has received in several years. 
 
¶2.  Tsvangirai World Tour Kicking Off:   Prime Minister Morgan 
Tsvangirai and a delegation of senior government officials depart 
Zimbabwe this weekend for a three-week tour of North American and 
European capitals to lobby for financial assistance, reassure the 
West of their commitment to bringing about human rights reforms, and 
report on the inclusive government's progress.  The trip will begin 
in the U.S. and also includes stops in Canada, the UK, Germany, 
France, and several other European nations.  Finance Minister Tendai 
Biti has said that Zimbabwe needs over eight billion U.S. dollars to 
turn around the economy. 
 
¶3.  Farmers Going Back to SADC for Enforcement of Ruling:   On June 
5 the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal in 
Windhoek will hear an application of Zimbabwe commercial farmers 
William Campbell and Richard Etheredge to have the Zimbabwe 
government's noncompliance with last November's ruling reported to 
the SADC Summit for eventual enforcement.  Since the November 
ruling, it has been widely reported that many of the over 70 
plaintiff farmers and their workers have continued to suffer 
evictions, harassment and in some cases, beatings. 
 
¶4.  MDC-T Annual Conference Concludes:   The MDC-T wrapped up its 
two-day national conference in Harare on May 31 to renew and 
re-evaluate the party's priorities.  The event was attended by over 
1,000 party delegates who issued resolutions affirming the party's 
primary objective of achieving democratic progress and criticizing 
continued breaches in the rule of law and the prevalence of 
Qcontinued breaches in the rule of law and the prevalence of 
high-level corruption.  The conference specifically called for the 
ouster of RBZ Governor Gono and Attorney General Tomana.  The 
Speaker of the House of Assembly, Lovemore Moyo, was elected 
substantive chairperson of the MDC-T. 
 
¶5.  High Court to Rule on Legal Status of MIC:  The High Court is 
 
HARARE 00000472  002 OF 003 
 
 
scheduled to rule on June 5 on a challenge to the requirement that 
journalists be accredited by the Media and Information Commission 
(MIC) for the ongoing COMESA summit.  Four freelance journalists -- 
Stanley Gama, Valentine Maponga, Jealous Mawarire and Stanley Kwenda 
-- are asking the court to order Media and Information Minister 
Webster Shamu to retract statements issued in late May instructing 
journalists to seek accreditation through the MIC.  The MIC was 
rendered illegal by amendments to the Access to Information and 
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).  In a statement issued through 
the government-controlled daily newspaper The Herald, the Ministry 
said "the MIC commissioners would cease their functions" while 
accreditation is being conducted by the MIC secretariat "under the 
law." 
 
¶6.  Ivory and Diamond Smugglers Arrested:  This week The Herald 
touted two different arrests of smugglers.  First, the paper 
reported that three airport security officers were in court this 
week for facilitating the smuggling of 500kg of ivory intercepted at 
the Beijing airport back in January.  Other airport employees are 
reportedly under investigation for smuggling ivory, drugs, and 
evading duty payments.  Separately, a Lebanese man was arrested this 
week for attempting to smuggle out 2.3kg of diamonds.  These arrests 
are likely designed to demonstrate progress to address CITES and 
Kimberley Process concerns about smuggling. 
 
¶7.  Abductees Re-Abducted:  On Tuesday, three of the MDC members who 
were abducted in late 2008 and held incommunicado for several months 
were re-abducted by police.  The officers took the trio to the 
Attorney General's office where they were forced to recite testimony 
the AG's office prepared for them.  The testimony is to be used in 
the first of three trials of the abductees that will begin on Monday 
June 8. 
 
¶8.  "Drop the Sanctions" Drumbeat Going Strong:  Rhetoric in the 
press calling on the U.S. and UK to drop sanctions appears to be 
increasing daily, probably in preparation for Prime Minister 
Tsvangirai's upcoming trip to the U.S. and Europe.  This week the 
independent weekly The Zimbabwe Independent cited "high level 
government sources" in an article reporting that Congressman Payne's 
visit was partly in preparations to lift sanctions and the Zimbabwe 
Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA). 
 
¶9.  Brits Clarify Sanctions:  The British Embassy in Harare, 
apparently fed up with the local press's sanctions rhetoric, issueda press release this week to clarify that British sanctions are 
limited to 243 individuals.  The press release came after an article 
in The Herald declared sanctions had hit British pensioners hard; it 
was accompanied by a cartoon that mischaracterized British 
assistance to citizens.  The British embassy recently stepped up 
efforts to repatriate elderly citizens who want to leave Zimbabwe. 
Qefforts to repatriate elderly citizens who want to leave Zimbabwe. 
 
-------------------------- 
Economic and Business News 
-------------------------- 
 
¶10.  Still Deflation in April, but Fuel Prices Rising:  The 
month-on-month inflation as measured by changes in the consumer 
price index (CPI) fell from 3 percent in March to 1.1 percent in 
April 2009.  Most commodity subgroups recorded declines in prices 
with the exception of housing, water, electricity and gas, as well 
as recreation and culture which recorded m-o-m price increases of 
6.5 percent and 0.2 percent respectively.  In a blow to business 
recovery, this week the price of gasoline and diesel rose 12 percent 
and 18 percent respectively on the back of higher world prices and 
the recent policy shift from a fixed amount of duty to an ad valorem 
rate. 
 
¶11.  USDA's 2009 Zimbabwe Crop Assessment:   The USDA Assessment 
 
HARARE 00000472  003 OF 003 
 
 
suggests that 1,144,000 ha of maize were planted last year and yield 
was 0.44 MT/ha for a total crop of only half a million tons.  The 
report takes into account the acute shortage of inputs, along with 
late planting.  The USDA estimate is less than half the calculation 
made by the GOZ, which used a slightly higher area planted and a 
much higher yield of 0.82 MT/ha.  Zimbabwe's national maize 
requirement is between 1.8 and 2.3 million MT.  To put the yield 
figures in perspective, before fast-track land reform, commercial 
maize growers strove to be in the celebrated and now defunct "Ten 
Tonne Club" of farmers who achieved a yield of 10 MT/ha.  The USDA 
Assessment is available at 
www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/highlights/2009/06/zim babwe/ 
 
¶12.  Lively Discussion at Indigenization Forum:   The American 
Business Association of Zimbabwe held a half-day policy dialogue 
forum on indigenization this week with guest speakers from the 
business communities of Zimbabwe and South Africa, as well as from 
the Ministry of Indigenization and Zimbabwe's vociferous Affirmative 
Action Group.  The focus of lively discussion was the contrast 
between South Africa's focus on empowerment and the focus of 
Zimbabwe's Indigenization Act on ownership. 
 
¶13.  The End of Look East:   Opening the Indigenization Forum, 
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara announced that the GOZ had 
abandoned its "Look East" policy and would now look neither east nor 
west for investment, rather to all corners of the globe. 
 
¶14.  Cabinet Approves Privatization of Parastatals:  The Independent 
reported today that Cabinet approved commercialization and 
privatization plans for Zimbabwe's deeply loss-making parastatals 
"to revive the comatose economy."  Details are sketchy. 
 
¶15.  Bloch Calls Gideon Gono a Genius:  Despite the Reserve Bank's 
glaring failure in economic management, Bulawayo accountant and 
self-styled economist Eric Bloch thinks RBZ Governor Gideon Gono is 
a genius who should be allowed to see his second term out because 
his removal would not be in the best interest of Zimbabweans. 
Bloch, who served as an advisor to Gono, absolved him any 
wrongdoing, saying whatever Gono did at the RBZ was under the 
direction of the ZANU-PF government. 
 
¶16.  Quote of the Week: 
 
 
"We now have the biggest chicken hatching project in Africa: People 
might see this and say I built it with money stolen from RBZ. 
That's not it; it's a vision that I have always had and I can tell 
you that by end of 2010, I will be slaughtering five million 
chickens a year." 
 
-- Reserve Bank Governor and Self-Proclaimed "Best Chicken Farmer in 
Africa" Gideon Gono, touting his farm's success to The Zimbabwe 
Times on June 4, 2009. 
 
MCGEE