COURT SIDES WITH TSVANGIRAI, OPPONENTS PLOT NEXT

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001673

SIPDIS

AF/S FOR B. NEULING
SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL ZI MDC
SUBJECT: COURT SIDES WITH TSVANGIRAI, OPPONENTS PLOT NEXT
STEPS

REF: HARARE 001662

Classified By: Ambassador Christopher Dell for reasons 1.5 b/d


1. (SBU) High Court Justice Yunus Omerjee on December 9
dismissed the court case seeking to bar Morgan Tsvangirai
from conducting MDC party business (reftel). Omerjee also
ordered that former MDC deputy secretary general Gift
Chimanikire ) in whose name the application was submitted )
pay the court fees. In his judgment, the justice noted that
Chimanikire had no authority to bring the case forward on the
MDC,s behalf. Responding to the judgment in his favor,
Tsvangirai told journalists &the people,s will has once

SIPDIS
again triumphed.8


2. (C) Chimanikire initially responded to the ruling by
telling journalists that an appeal was imminent, but allied
MDC MP Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga told post on December
12 that the pro-Senate faction was thinking twice about
continued legal battles. Misihairabwi-Mushonga conceded that
Omerjee made the correct decision based on the information
presented before him. To this end, the pro-Senate faction
blamed their chief legal council, Advocate Garikayi Mandizha,
for not presenting all the information in the case. Rather
than continue the legal battle in the GOZ-manipulated courts,
Misihairabwi-Mushonga said that arbitration was a good
possibility and that former mediator Brian Raftopolous could
be asked to oversee the division of party resources.


3. (SBU) Meanwhile, the party disciplinary committee hearing
against Ncube, Chimanikire, and other pro-Senate leaders has
been postponed one week to December 17 to allow the
faction,s lawyers to prepare their case.

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Comment
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4. (C) By all accounts an MDC split is inevitable. However,
if the competing MDC factions go their separate ways
relatively amicably, it could help the opposition,s
effectiveness. A protracted and potentially violent divorce
would only serve to weaken the anti-Mugabe forces, a scenario
that ZANU-PF is probably counting on and may well be
encouraging.
DELL