PF-ZAPU GOING FORWARD WITH SPLIT FROM ZANU-PF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001115

SIPDIS

AF/S FOR B. WALCH
DRL FOR N. WILETT
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR E. LOKEN AND L. DOBBINS
STATE PASS TO NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B. PITTMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC PHUM ZI
SUBJECT: PF-ZAPU GOING FORWARD WITH SPLIT FROM ZANU-PF

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. Don Curtis for reason 1.4 (d)

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) On December 10, poloff met with a group of PF-ZAPU
officials who explained the rationale for revitalizing the
former liberation party and separating from ZANU-PF. They
stressed that they had undertaken a clean break from ZANU-PF
and blamed the Mugabe regime for Zimbabwe's disastrous
decline. On December 13 and 14 the party will hold a
convention in Bulawayo which will be followed by a full-party
congress in January to build-out party structures and elect a
chairman. While PF-ZAPU shares many of the MDC's
reform-minded goals, the group stressed that their roots as
an African independence party will give them greater regional
legitimacy than that granted to the MDC. Initial meetings
with leaders in Botswana, South Africa, and Zambia have been
well received, and they are eager to establish ties with the
U.S. END SUMMARY.

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Disaffection Lead to Split
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2. (SBU) Poloff met with a group of eight members of PF-ZAPU
in Harare at their invitation on December 10. The group
consisted of a mix of PF-ZAPU steering committee members from
Bulawayo and local Harare-based representatives. The PF-ZAPU
representatives explained that the party's decision to
separate from ZANU-PF was due to their treatment by ZANU-PF
as junior partners in government and their exclusion from
meaningful positions. The party rejected many of Mugabe's
disastrous economic and political policies, and they blamed
ZANU-PF for the economic neglect of Matabeleland by the
government. They have also felt entirely unrepresented in
the ongoing power-sharing negotiations between ZANU-PF and
the two MDC formations.

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Conference to Establish Political Structures
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3. (SBU) According to steering committee member Bukhosi
Hadebe, PF-ZAPU has scheduled a two-day party convention for
December 13 and 14 in Bulawayo. At this convention the party
intends to nominate 300 delegates, consisting of members from
all 10 Zimbabwean provinces, who will form the party
backbone. The convention will be followed by a full-party
congress during the first half of January where they will
elect a chairman. The group emphasized that PF-ZAPU is a
national party and not ethnically or regionally limited.


4. (SBU) The group made clear that in November PF-ZAPU
nullified the 1987 Unity Accords that merged PF-ZAPU into
ZANU-PF. We were provided a copy of the press release from
November 8 that announced PF-ZAPU's separation from ZANU-PF.
PF-ZAPU member Ndaba Mabhena referred to the split as "a
total divorce."

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PF-ZAPU's Leadership
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5. (SBU) The leadership of the revitalized PF-ZAPU party
currently consists of a handful of members including Dumiso
Debengwa, who served as minister of Home Affairs from 1992 to
2000, Cyril Ndebele, the former speaker of the House of
Assembly, war veterans leader Andrew Ndlovu, former PF-ZAPU
secretary general Welshman Mabhena, former government

HARARE 00001115 002 OF 002


minister Thenjiwe Lesabe, and spokesman Effort Nkomo. (NOTE:
Vice-President Joseph Msika does not appear to be part of
the PF-ZAPU revival and local independent press reports have
reported that there are strained relations between him and
the revivalists. They were also dismissive of ZANU-PF
chairman John Nkomo who they said had been co-opted. END
NOTE.)

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Reaching Out Regionally and Internationally
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6. (SBU) In addition to rebuilding PF-ZAPU as an independent
party, PF-ZAPU leaders are now embarking on a strategy of
national and international outreach. Regionally this has
included meetings with ANC leader Jacob Zuma, Botswanan
president Ian Khama, Zambian president Rupiah Banda, and will
lead to meetings with Namibian president Hifikepunye Pohamba,
and Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete. The group said that
Jacob Zuma had been very receptive to a re-born PF-ZAPU.


7. (SBU) They also discussed their interest in building ties
internationally, in particular, with the U.S. and UK, and
emphasized their need for financial support to maintain their
party. The budget for the conference is an estimated
US$62,000.

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What PF-ZAPU Offers
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8. (SBU) The group made the case that unlike the MDC, which
struggles for regional respect from SADC countries, PF-ZAPU
has an undeniable claim as an African independence party.
This legitimization made them believe that they would be able
to place greater pressure and gain greater acceptance from
SADC peer countries. They stressed that they shared many of
the MDC's concerns about the political, economic, and
humanitarian crises in Zimbabwe, and squarely placed the
blame at the feet of Robert Mugabe. They spoke of Mugabe
with derision and disgust. When asked what their position
was regarding those PF-ZAPU members who had profited from
close ZANU-PF ties, they emphasized that they knew who they
were and they were being excluded from participating in the
reborn party.

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COMMENT
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9. (C) It remains to be seen whether the separation of
PF-ZAPU from ZANU-PF is a minor irritant to ZANU-PF hegemony,
or whether it will represent a significant challenge to the
ruling party. The original ZAPU began as a national movement
but at the time of the 1987 Unity Accords was fundamentally a
regional party based in Matabeleland, and PF-ZAPU has not yet
made a case that it will have a national following. The two
most prominent ex-ZAPU members, Vice-President Joseph Msika
and ZANU-PF chairman John Nkomo, both from Matabeleland, are
not leaving ZANU-PF to join the new party. ZANU-PF influence
in Matabeleland--it has only one MP--is far less than in the
rest of the country, so it is doubtful that ZANU-PF
defections in Matabeleland will have much impact. At this
point, the formation of the new party would seem to have more
symbolic than real value by demonstrating dissension within
ZANU-PF. END COMMENT.

CURTIS