PROTESTERS RELEASED, PLANNING MORE ACTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001560 SIPDIS AF/S FOR B. NEULING NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE AFR/SA FOR E. LOKEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2010 TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB ASEC SOCI ZI ZCTU SUBJECT: PROTESTERS RELEASED, PLANNING MORE ACTION REF: (A) HARARE 1534 (B) HARARE 1527 (C) HARARE 1512 (D) HARARE 1503 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Eric T. Schultz under Section 1 .4 b/d -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) On November 10 and 11, the police released the arrestees involved in the recent Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) sponsored protests. The police also released student activists and other civil society members who had been arrested last week in connection with separate events. On the heels of these arrests, contacts in the democratic opposition told us they are planning to go forward with additional protests. End summary. -------------- Activists, Mayor Released -------------- ¶2. (C) Following his arrest associated with last week,s NCA protest (ref B),NCA Chairman Lovemore Madhuku was released November 10; no NCA protesters remain in jail. NCA spokesperson Columbus Madzunga told Poloff on November 14 that Madhuku had been unharmed and intimated that police and prison guards had been sympathetic to Madhuku and other arrested protestors. Madzunga said that the GOZ had dropped charges initially filed against Madhuku under the Criminal Evidence Act but advised Madhuku that they may serve him with a summons to reappear within a few days. ¶3. (C) Following their arrests in connection with ZCTU protests on November 8 (ref A),ZCTU General Secretary Wellington Chibebe and ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo were released November 11. ZCTU Information Officer Mlamleli Sibanda said the organization,s activists had appeared tired but otherwise healthy. All of those arrested had been held in police custody without being formally charged within 48 hours as required by law. Irene Petras of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) noted that ZCTU activists were held 30 to a cell in cells designed to hold six people. Petras added that the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) interrogated each individual protester. ¶4. (C) ZLHR lawyer Otto Saki confirmed to the Embassy on November 14 that police had also released six University of Zimbabwe student leaders on November 11 following their arrest earlier in the week by campus police. Four of the six, including the Student Executive Council,s Secretary General Garikai Kajauro, Vice-President Colleen Chibango, Information and Publicity Secretary Mfundo Mlilo, and Legal Secretary Wellington Mahohoma, had been suspended from the SIPDIS university after staging a protest on October 19 in connection with new university charges for toilet repairs. They obtained a court order requiring their reinstatement but were again arrested on attempting to re-enter the university grounds. They were released following payment of a small fine for breach of the Miscellaneous Offenses Act - "conduct likely to breach the peace." Saki advised that the students were seeking an additional court order to assure their return to the campus. ¶5. (C) Saki also reported that Chitungwiza Mayor Mishek Shoko had been released on November 11. Following long running tension with the GOZ (ref D),the controversial mayor had been arrested on November 8 (ref B) and charged with violation of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) in connection with a meeting he had held with constituents on November 7. Saki reported that the state had dropped the charges but could yet proceed against Shoko by means of a separate summons. ¶6. (C) Police also released Netsai Mushonga of the Women,s Coalition on November 10, following 50 hours of incarceration. Mushonga had been arrested on November 8 after convening a peace and nonviolence training workshop on November 5 and 6 without prior police approval. She told Embassy contacts that the police and prison guards had shown a lack of enthusiasm - at times even sympathy - in their arrest and processing, and that POSA charges against her had been dismissed. -------------- More Protests Planned -------------- ¶7. (C) ZCTU's Sibanda told PolOff on November 14 that the ZCTU planned further actions in conjunction with others in civil society but could not provide any details as to the nature or timing of such future actions. NCA's Madzunga informed PolOff that the NCA was meeting on the afternoon of November 14 to plan its next protest - again, likely to proceed in multiple locations - and would keep the Embassy advised. ¶8. (C) Movement for Democratic Change Secretary for Presidential Affairs Gandhi Mudzingwa reiterated to the Embassy on November 14 that the party planned to renew its own efforts at civic action (ref C). He said party President Morgan Tsvangirai was likely to announce dates for unspecified civic action by the end of this week. Separately, AFP reported that Tsvangirai's rally in Bulawayo November 13 attracted 8-10,000 people and other sources indicated that a rally he held in Gweru the same day also drew several thousand people. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶9. (C) Last week,s protests marked a renewal of the democratic opposition,s willingness to peacefully yet forcefully confront the GOZ. More promising from our point of view was the protest,s focus on the regime,s economic mismanagement and general misrule, issues we believe are far more likely to resonate with the general public than constitutional reform and other pet rocks of the opposition,s leadership. Buoyed by attendance at their public events as well as by the relatively muted response of the police, and despite continuing intra-party turmoil over the Senate elections, the MDC and its civil society allies seem set to go forward with more protests. SCHULTZ