Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05HARARE310
2005-02-23 14:13:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Harare
Cable title:  

BULAWAYO AND MASVINGO'S MDC MAYORS ON CHALLENGES

Tags:  EAID PGOV PREL PHUM ZI MDC 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000310 

SIPDIS

AF/S FOR BNEULING
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2010
TAGS: EAID PGOV PREL PHUM ZI MDC
SUBJECT: BULAWAYO AND MASVINGO'S MDC MAYORS ON CHALLENGES
OF GOVERNING: GOZ'S THE BIGGEST

Classified By: Ambassador Christopher W. Dell under Section 1.4 b/d

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000310

SIPDIS

AF/S FOR BNEULING
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2010
TAGS: EAID PGOV PREL PHUM ZI MDC
SUBJECT: BULAWAYO AND MASVINGO'S MDC MAYORS ON CHALLENGES
OF GOVERNING: GOZ'S THE BIGGEST

Classified By: Ambassador Christopher W. Dell under Section 1.4 b/d


1. (C) Summary: During a recent trip to south-central
Zimbabwe, the Ambassador met with the mayors of Bulawayo and
Masvingo on February 8 and 9 respectively. Both mayors are
members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC). Mayor Japhet Ncube of Bulawayo criticized the central
government for micromanaging municipalities, especially those
governed by the MDC, and for failing to provide financial
support to city governments. He named urban issues such as
lighting, water and streets as major concerns, and said that
voters are aware that the GOZ is in large part to blame for
such problems. Ncube fully expects the MDC to win big in
Matabeleland in the upcoming parliamentary elections.


2. (C) Summary Continued: Mayor Alois Chaimiti of Masvingo
cited food security as the single biggest issue affecting the
city. He noted that the GOZ was not only failing to help
local governments, but was also constraining their ability to
raise needed revenue from other sources. He added that the
MDC would launch its national campaign in Masvingo February
20 and said the party stood a good chance of picking up
additional seats in the region. End Summary.

-------------- --------------
Bulawayo Mayor: Tense Relations with GOZ; Mtabeleland to
remain MDC
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Mayor Ncube told the Ambassador that the central
government tried to manage local authorities at every turn.
He referenced a fax he had received the previous Friday
requesting that all mayors attend a lunch in the capital in
honor of the newly appointed Vice President, Joyce Mujuru.
The GOZ expected mayors to attend on short notice and at
their own expense. The Mayor said he had sent his deputy in
his stead, indicating his distain for the central
government,s behavior. He also cited the fact that
correspondence from the central government came to him via
the Governor, an appointed official and a member of the

ruling ZANU-PF party.


4. (C) Mayor Ncube also criticized the central government
for failing to make good on its financial promises. The
Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono,
recently pledged 150 billion Zim dollars to Bulawayo. The
Mayor had yet to receive official notification of Gono,s
bequest, let alone see any of the cash. Based on past
experience, he said he did not expect the money to be
forthcoming. Ncube said that while Bulawayo received little
from the central government, its needs were significant. The
Ambassador asked Mayor Ncube how he would spend money if he
had it, and the mayor named roads, street lighting, and the
sewer and water systems as priorities. With a population
that had expanded to two million people, he said Bulawayo,s
overtaxed infrastructure was in desperate need of
revitalization.


5. (C) On an even more basic level, Ncube said that the city
could not feed itself and that nationally Zimbabwe would need
to import hundreds of thousands of tons of grain to avoid a
crisis. Ncube expressed concern that ZANU-PF had exploited
similar situations in the past, providing food to those who
vote for the ruling party. The fact that war veterans
handled food rationing in Bulawayo, even though this fell
within the city council,s purview, provided yet another
example of the central government,s on-going effort to
control local authorities and their constituents.


6. (C) Despite tense relations with the central government
and a severe lack of resources, Ncube said the situation was
far from hopeless. To begin with, the city council realized
that people might point fingers at them when visible issues
such as lighting and refuse removal were ignored, so they had
developed a plan to ensure that the central government took
the blame, including a bi-annual city hall paper, &Masiye
Pambili,8 that listed accomplishments as well as areas for
improvement.


7. (C) Politically, Ncube said Matabeleland remained an MDC
stronghold. He noted two reasons for optimism in the
province. First, he felt confident that the people of
Matabeleland would vote MDC again since they were accustomed
to the threats that came with supporting the opposition.
Second, he thought ZANU-PF supporters in Matabeleland were so
disenchanted that they simply wouldn,t go to the polls. He
added that ZANU-PF was in such chaos that he wouldn,t be
surprised if the parliamentary elections scheduled for March
31 were postponed.

-------------- --------------
Masvingo Mayor: More Trouble with GOZ; MDC Electoral Hopes
-------------- --------------

8. (C) The Mayor of Masvingo, Alois Chaimiti, and six of ten
city councilmen, all of whom are members of the opposition
party MDC, told the Ambassador that Masvingo would have the
honor of hosting the launch of MDC,s campaign on February

20. The Mayor said he was confident that the party would
break through and win a number of rural seats in the region
in the parliamentary elections. He allowed that intimidation
and violence were very real possibilities as the elections
approach. He also noted that previously used ZANU-PF
tactics, including tearing up candidates, nomination papers
and barring voters from going to the polls, could affect the
outcome if deployed. Like Mayor Ncube, he believed the
ruling party could also use food as a tool to get votes as
they have done in the past.


9. (C) Chaimiti expressed the same frustration felt by Mayor
Ncube over the central government,s unfulfilled promises of
funding and echoed the sentiment that no funds would actually
be dispersed. He said Masvingo needed help in many areas but
he flagged food security as the principle concern. Food
scarcity cut across all wards, and affected rural as well as
urban areas. Chaimiti explained that low salaries and
joblessness in the region made it difficult for people to
afford food.


10. (C) Overall, Chamiti said Masvingo was a distressed
community whose economic base was being eroded by bad
government policies. For instance, the GOZ had only allowed
municipalities to raise budgets by 15%, a much lower increase
than the percentages originally promised and grossly
insufficient given current inflation rates. The policies of
the central government constrain the city,s ability to raise
revenue on its own, making it impossible to provide adequate
services to meet citizens, needs.


10. (C) Chaimiti said the support of the international
community was key to encouraging democratic change in
Zimbabwe. In that regard, he lamented the decline of NGO
involvement in the Masvingo region, faulting primarily the
central government for pushing out programs that had
benefited the disadvantaged.

--------------
Comment
--------------


11. (C) The GOZ,s hostile attitude toward MDC-led city
governments is a consistent theme in our visits to various
parts of the country. The ZANU-PF led GOZ has severely
constrained the cities, former authorities to raise
revenues, leading to cutbacks in services that the official
media then portrays as signs of MDC incompetence. Ncube has
been the most successful of the MDC mayors at fighting back
and ensuring his voters are wise to the game, but our sense
is that city residents in general are aware of this dynamic
and that the MDC therefore stands a good chance of retaining
its urban support base. In addition, the fortitude and
creativity of both Mayor Ncube and Mayor Chaimiti in the face
of significant problems gives reason for optimism that if the
MDC were ever to come to power nationally, it would have a
cadre of experienced administrators it could draw on to run
the central government.
DELL