VZCZCXRO8635
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0100/01 0390751
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 080749Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0017
INFO SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHMCSUU/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 0004
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0004
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 0004
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0004
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000100 
 
SIPDIS 
AF/S FOR B. WALSH 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR L. DOBBINS AND J. HARMON 
COMMERCE FOR ROBERT TELCHIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC PHUM ZI
SUBJECT: ZIM NOTES 02-05-2010 
 
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¶1.  SUMMARY 
 
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IMF to Restore Voting Rights-Biti... 
 
Circular Arguments... 
 
ACR Reports Offices Raided... 
 
Dozens Arrested While Discussing the Constitution... 
 
Zimbabwe Named to AU's Security Council... 
 
MDC-M Spokesman Defects... 
 
MDC Councilors Accused of Killing a ZANU-PF Councilor... 
 
AG Admits (Some) Mistakes... 
 
Police Arrest Private Newspaper Employees... 
 
Anglicans Gather In Protest Service... 
 
Central Bank Defaults on Bond... 
 
Zimbabwe to Import Grain... 
 
Government Restricts Foreign Travel... 
 
RBZ Farm Mechanization Beneficiaries to Repay... 
 
 
 
--------------------------------- 
 
On the Political and Social Front 
 
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¶2.  The Zimbabwe Independent quotes Minister of Finance Tendai 
Biti, who returned this week from visits to Washington, London, and 
Germany, as stating, "We were pushing for the restoration of 
Zimbabwe's voting rights in the IMF. The U.S. will support us, and 
we made similar requests to Germany and the UK, who will also 
support us in this regard." 
 
 
 
¶3.  President Mugabe issued a circular this week implying that 
ministers should report to the two vice presidents -- Joice Mujuru 
and John Nkomo of ZANU-PF -- instead of PM Tsvangirai. The 
directive lays out supervisory responsibilities for Mujuru over 
social, agricultural, and infrastructural ministries, and for Nkomo 
over financial, economic, and environmental ministries. The 
controversial circular was immediately challenged by Tsvangirai who 
charged that it was in violation of the GPA and therefore 
unconstitutional. Finance Minister Biti also released an MDC 
statement this week blasting ZANU-PF for attempting to sabotage the 
inclusive government. The circular follows reports from MDC 
negotiators that their ZANU-PF counterparts have adopted entrenched 
negotiating positions since the ZANU-PF party Congress in December. 
 
HARARE 00000100  002 OF 004 
 
 
¶4.  Mining firm African Consolidated Resources (ACR) reported that 
on February 3 their offices in Harare were raided by well-armed 
gunmen. Eight men reportedly armed with AK-47s broke into ACR's 
offices shortly after midnight and left with computer equipment and 
a vehicle. ACR is embroiled in an ownership dispute over diamond 
rights with the government and two private mining firms, Mbada and 
Canadile. Last week, the Supreme Court ordered that Zimbabwean 
mining parastatal Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) 
hand over diamonds taken from ACR to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. 
That transfer has now been put on hold because of security 
concerns. 
 
 
 
¶5.  On January 30 in Mt. Darwin, police broke up an MDC meeting on 
the constitution and arrested all 52 MDC supporters in attendance. 
Police force-marched the group to the police station where most 
were released without charge. Eleven, including the MDC's chairman 
for Mashonaland Central were detained, charged with breaching 
security laws, and released on bail on February 4. Separately, 22 
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) activists were arrested while 
discussing constitutional reform in a private house in Bulawayo on 
February 2. They were released the same day without charge, and 
police apologized noting they "didn't know they were WOZA members." 
 
 
 
 
¶6.  At the African Union summit in Ethiopia earlier this week, 
Zimbabwe was named to the Peace and Security Council. Zimbabwe will 
retain a seat at the 15-member council for two to three years. 
 
 
 
¶7.  Gabriel Chaibva, MDC-M's spokesman, announced this week that he 
was leaving the party and joining ZANU-PF. In his resignation 
Chaibva said he wanted to "work hard for the people's party, 
ZANU-PF, to regain its revolutionary image as the defender of our 
freedom, democracy, and the gains of our liberation struggle." 
 
 
 
¶8.  Three MDC councilors in Banket, Mashonaland West, including 
Fanny Tembo and Emmanuel Chinanzavana (who were abducted and 
tortured by security agents in 2008), were arrested on January 28 
and charged with abducting and killing a ZANU-PF councilor in 
Banket. The three remain in jail after numerous delays in 
scheduling a bail hearing. 
 
 
 
¶9.  Attorney General Johannes Tomana conceded that his law officers 
and prosecutors had at times misjudged when they invoked section 
121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (CPEA) to 
effectively reverse the granting of bail by magistrates or judges. 
Section 121 is essentially an appeal of the decision granting bail 
and forces the accused to remain in custody for 7 days until the 
government makes a decision whether to appeal. In most cases, the 
government does not appeal; the procedure is a harassment technique 
to extract additional custody. The provision has been used 
repeatedly since 2008, particularly in political cases. Testifying 
before a parliamentary committee, Tomana said he could not rule out 
"malice, corruption, misjudgment, and human error" on the part of 
his law officers when invoking section 121. 
 
HARARE 00000100  003 OF 004 
 
 
¶10.  Police officers forced their way in to an apartment belonging 
to independent newspaper The Zimbabwean on Wednesday. Officers took 
two employees (believed to be marketing officers) to a nearby 
police station and released them the same day without charge. The 
apartment is used by stringers who write for The Zimbabwean, which 
is published in South Africa and the UK. 
 
 
 
¶11.  Approximately 3,000 members of the regional body of the 
Anglican Church, the Church of the Province of Central Africa 
(CPCA) gathered in Harare's Africa Unity Square on January 31 to 
pray for peace and to protest their continued inability to access 
Anglican churches. For nearly three years, rogue ex-Anglican bishop 
and ZANU-PF stalwart Nolbert Kunonga has used his influence and the 
police to prevent members of the CPCA from accessing Anglican 
churches, schools, cemeteries, and other property. Harare's CPCA 
Bishop Chad Gandiya led the service and prayed for peace, noting 
the irony of holding the service directly across the street from 
the locked Anglican cathedral. The service was not disrupted by the 
police or Kunonga's handful of supporters. 
 
 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
On the Economic and Business Front 
 
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¶12.  The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has failed to redeem on 
time the gold bonds it issued for gold delivered by mining 
companies in 2007 and 2008. The financially distressed central bank 
extended the life of the bonds by another six months pending the 
outcome of talks on funding with the Ministry of Finance. The RBZ 
has also failed to refund over US$34 million owed to platinum 
producer Zimplats, hoping government will take over the debt. These 
defaults and calls for indigenization of mines pose a threat to the 
nascent recovery now evident in the mining sector. 
 
 
 
¶13.  Preliminary estimates show that Zimbabwe is likely to produce 
only a quarter of its two-million-ton maize requirement in 2010. 
The huge deficit has been caused by a dry spell that hit most parts 
of Zimbabwe in January and the continued farm invasions. The 
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union has urged the government to start 
preparing to import grain in order to avert starvation. More 
reliable estimates should be forthcoming in the next few weeks. 
 
 
 
¶14.  The Chief Secretary to Cabinet has issued instructions 
restricting foreign travel by government officials to critical 
businesses that support the economic recovery process. The goal is 
a reduction in the number of both trips and delegates as a way of 
reducing costs. During his 2010 budget speech, Finance Minister 
Biti reported that foreign travel by government officials had 
gobbled US$28.6 million, more than the GOZ spent on social sectors. 
 
HARARE 00000100  004 OF 004 
 
 
¶15.  Hamstrung by a shortage of funds, RBZ Governor Gono now wants 
new farmers who benefited from the farm mechanization program to 
start repaying for equipment they received from the RBZ out of this 
year's harvest. According to the Financial Gazette, the debt 
recovery process is expected to realize US$1 billion which will be 
used to recapitalize the RBZ. Fat chance. 
 
 
 
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Quote of the Week 
 
----------------- 
 
 
 
¶16.  "ZANU-PF continues to use the public media, the constitutional 
process, the commercial farms, the diamond mines and the civil 
service as the battlefields for its destructive agenda aimed at 
perpetuating their selfish grip on power.  Their determination to 
enrich themselves at the expense of national development risks 
keeping all our citizens mired in poverty." -- Finance Minister and 
MDC-T Secretary General Tendai Biti in a statement issued by the 
MDC-T on February 2, 2010. 
 
 
 
RAY 
RAY