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R 121151Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4600
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000491 
 
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 06-12-09 
 
---------------------------- 
SUMMARY - Topics of the week 
---------------------------- 
 
- The Herald Spins TsvangiraiQs Trip 
- ZANU-PF MPs Stalling Constitutional Reform 
- Human Rights Violations on the Rise 
- TsvangiraiQs Amcit Niece Involved in Land Seizure 
- Journalists Want Contempt of Court Charges against Minister 
- AbducteesQ Case Delayed 
- Human Rights Lawyer Summoned for Trial 
- Furor Over Delayed, Questionable Exam Results 
- Harare Ranked WorldQs Worst City 
- COMESA Wraps Up 
- African Development Bank President Briefs Donors 
- Cost of Living Up 2 percent in May 
- IMF Returning on Staff Visit 
- Econet Expands 
- Retailer Constrained by Lack of Working Capital 
- Sales of Government Rag Up 
- Quotes of the Week 
 
----------------------------- 
On the Political/Social Front 
----------------------------- 
 
¶1. The Herald Spins TsvangiraiQs Trip... With Prime Minister Morgan 
Tsvangirai on an official visit to the U.S., Canada, and Europe the 
ZANU-PF mouthpiece The Herald has been spinning his trip as a 
solicitation for a lifting of sanctions and re-engagement in the 
form of aid.  This week, the front page has featured distorted 
headlines that appear to set Tsvangirai up for failure, such as 
QDutch govt turns down TsvangiraiQ and QPM, Obama clash looms. 
Tsvangirai met with Secretary Clinton on June 11 and will meet with 
President Obama on June 12. 
 
¶2.  ZANU-PF MPs Stalling Constitutional Reform... ZANU-PFQs 
parliamentary caucus is forcing the postponement of public hearings 
for the constitution-making process.  They are demanding staggering 
stipends of US$6,000 per month, twin-cab trucks, and travel stipends 
to lead meetings to inform the public on the process.  Hearings have 
been delayed until at least June 24 while parliament continues 
efforts to consolidate proposals to donors to help fund the 
process. 
 
¶3.  Human Rights Violations on the Rise... Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO 
Forum releaseda report documenting human rights abuses between 
January and April 2009.  The report revealed increases in violence 
and repression Q evidence of the continued polarization in Zimbabwe. 
 In April, the forum recorded a total of 204 violations versus 155 
in March. For more details, see:  www.kubatana.net/html/ 
archive/hr/090606hrf.asp?sector=HR 
 
 
¶4.  TsvangiraiQs Amcit Niece Involved in Land Seizure... The press 
revealed this week that American citizen and distant relative of 
Prime Minister Tsvangirai, Dr. Arikana Chiyedzo Chihombori, is 
attempting to take over a white-owned 70 hectare farm in central 
Zimbabwe with a flawed offer letter.  This is the same woman that 
appeared with Tsvangirai in photographs at Jacob ZumaQs recent 
presidential inauguration.  Tsvangirai has affirmed they are 
related, but denies having a personal relationship with her. 
 
¶5.  Journalists Want Contempt of Court Charges against Minister... 
Q5.  Journalists Want Contempt of Court Charges against Minister... 
Four journalists have decided to sue Information Minister Webster 
Shamu and his permanent secretary George Charamba for contempt of 
court. Despite a High Court ruling on June 5 that declared the Media 
and Information Commission defunct and no journalist should be 
 
HARARE 00000491  002 OF 003 
 
 
required to register with it, the journalists were barred from 
covering the COMESA summit last weekend on the basis that they were 
not part of a list supplied by the Ministry of Information. 
 
¶6.  AbducteesQ Case Delayed... The trial of four abductees kicked 
off on June 9.  In an impassioned recounting of events, defense 
attorney Alec Muchadehama asked High Court Judge Tendai Uchena to 
refer the case to the Supreme Court in light of the numerous 
violations of rights the accused experienced when they were 
abducted, tortured, and turned over to police and held in prison for 
several weeks without ever properly appearing before the court. 
According to Article 24 of the Zimbabwean constitution, the referral 
must be granted unless the judge considers the questions raised 
Qmerely frivolous or vexatious.Q  Justice Uchena promised to give 
his decision on June 22. 
 
¶7.  Human Rights Lawyer Summoned for Trial...  On June 9, 
Muchadehama was served with a summons to appear for trial on June 17 
on charges of obstructing justice.  Muchadehama was arrested last 
month for obstructing justice; a lower court later removed the case 
from remand for lack of evidence.  Many believe the trial on these 
trumped-up charges is pure harassment of one of ZimbabweQs most 
renowned lawyers by Attorney General Johannes Tomana and lead 
prosecutor Florence Ziyambi. 
 
¶8.  Furor Over Delayed, Questionable Exam Results... The Zimbabwe 
Secondary Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) finally released 
national Ordinary (O) Level exam results on June 5 -- four months 
late.  Many results have either been recorded as missing or are 
wildly inconsistent with school-predicted results for students. 
Minister of Education David Coltart decreed that students currently 
pursuing A Level studies who failed their O level exams must leave 
school and repeat their O level courses.  This will negatively 
affect thousands of students whose parents already paid for uniforms 
and school fees after the Minister first insisted that schools take 
them and open A level courses without O level results. 
 
¶9.  Harare Ranked WorldQs Worst City... The Economist Intelligence 
Unit ranked Harare 140 of 140 world cities based on stability, 
health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. 
 Six of the bottom ten are in Africa; Vancouver topped the list. 
 
-------------------------- 
Economic and Business News 
-------------------------- 
 
¶10.  COMESA Wraps Up... The 13th Common Market of Eastern and 
Southern Africa (COMESA) summit wrapped up in Victoria Falls this 
week. During the meeting, COMESA Chairman President Mugabe commended 
the launch of the COMESA customs union.  Under the union, all 19 
members will impose a similar tariff on goods from outside the 
region of zero to 25 percent. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir also 
attended the summit, where he was warmly welcomed by Mugabe. 
Qattended the summit, where he was warmly welcomed by Mugabe. 
 
¶11.  African Development Bank President Briefs Donors... AFDB 
President Donald Kaberuka visited Zimbabwe for the COMESA summit and 
spent a day in Harare where he briefed donors this week on his views 
of the inclusive government and investment climate.  He advised that 
the time had not yet come to fully re-engage.   See Harare 488 
 
¶12.  Cost of Living Up 2 percent in May... The Consumer Council of 
Zimbabwe reported that the monthly cost of living for a family of 
six rose 2 percent in May to US$437 from US$427 in April, mainly due 
to increases in rent and the cost of public utilities, health, 
education and clothing.  The cost of food fell by 0.5 percent in 
May. 
 
¶13.  IMF Returning on Staff Visit... Following on its March 2009 
 
HARARE 00000491  003 OF 003 
 
 
Article IV mission and the visits of technical assistance teams in 
May and June, an IMF team is scheduled to arrive on June 21 for a 
nine-day staff visit. 
 
¶14.  Econet Expands... Econet has secured US$93.9 million in funding 
from its parent company, under the chairmanship of Strive Masiyiwa, 
to increase capacity from 1.2 million mobile phone subscribers to 5 
million by year end.  By expanding its subscriber base, Econet is 
seeking to keep foreign competition, e.g. MTN, from gaining a 
foothold in Zimbabwe where mobile penetration is currently only 10 
percent-12 percent.  Since the introduction of U.S. dollar tariffs, 
usage measured in minutes has dropped to 10 percent of 
pre-dollarization levels; previously price distortions in 
Zimbabwe-dollar tariffs had made mobile calls and texting dirt 
cheap.  EconetQs share price has risen 135 percent since the local 
stock exchange re-opened earlier this year. 
 
¶15.  Retailer Constrained y Lack of Working Capital... 
Wholesaler/retailer Red Star Holdings reported an improvement in 
operating capacity from below 15 percent to 33 percent at its 
branches since dollarization.  It said that a further increase was 
contingent upon accessing credit facilities for working capital to 
increase stocking levels.  Our contacts in the retail sector, on the 
other hand, tell us that the extremely low level of disposable 
income is dampening recovery in the sector. 
 
¶16.  Sales of Government Rag Up... Sales volumes of The Herald have 
climbed to 30,000 copies a day from a low of 8,000 in December 2008. 
 Circulation for The Herald peaked in the mid-1990s with 100,000 
copies. 
 
------------------ 
Quotes of the Week 
------------------ 
 
¶17.  QHe must tell the U.S. leader that the blockade has directly 
led to the death of countless children who could not get essential 
medicines from public hospitals... With standards of living plunging 
horribly, malnutrition killed many in this country and most of our 
people were reduced to sorry hunters and gatherers... When this 
happens on a large scale, it deserves the label of genocide. In many 
ways, the Western sanctions had the impact of genocide. 
 
 -- From the editorial QWhat Tsvangirai Must Tell Brother ObamaQ in 
the Bulawayo-based ZANU-PF mouthpiece The Chronicle on June 11, 
¶2009. 
 
¶18.  "You can't compare the President and Prime Minister. It is only 
the President who gets coverage when he is out of the country.  This 
is because of protocol and resource constraints." 
 
 
-- ZBC Chief Executive Officer Happison Muchetere on the Zimbabwean 
government mediaQs refusal to provide PM Tsvangirai with a media 
crew to cover his travel to North America and Europe. 
 
MCGEE