Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09LUSAKA689
2009-10-05 14:31:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Lusaka
Cable title:  

HONK IF YOU HATE CORRUPTION! -- GRZ CLAMPS DOWN ON

Tags:  PREL PGOV ECON KCOR ZA 
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VZCZCXRO1983
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHLS #0689/01 2781431
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 051431Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY LUSAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7324
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LUSAKA 000689 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/S

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON KCOR ZA
SUBJECT: HONK IF YOU HATE CORRUPTION! -- GRZ CLAMPS DOWN ON
CIVIL SOCIETY PROTESTS

REF: A. LUSAKA 583

B. LUSAKA 602

C. LUSAKA 684

D. LUSAKA 654

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael Koplovsky for reasons 1.4 (b,d
)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LUSAKA 000689

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/S

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON KCOR ZA
SUBJECT: HONK IF YOU HATE CORRUPTION! -- GRZ CLAMPS DOWN ON
CIVIL SOCIETY PROTESTS

REF: A. LUSAKA 583

B. LUSAKA 602

C. LUSAKA 684

D. LUSAKA 654

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael Koplovsky for reasons 1.4 (b,d
)


1. (C) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: Police arrested nine motorists
-- including two opposition Members of Parliament (MP) -- in
Lusaka October 2 for honking in a surprisingly muted protest
of the GRZ's failure to appeal former president Frederick
Chiluba's corruption case acquittal (ref A). The arrestees
had answered a September 29 call by 18 Civil Society
Organizations (CSOs) to protest with car honks and whistles
every Friday at 5 p.m. local for ten minutes until the GRZ
agreed to appeal the case. GRZ Spokesman and Information
Minister Lt. Gen. Ronnie Shikapwasha, Minister of Home
Affairs Minister Lameck Mangani and the government-owned
press branded the CSOs and protesters "fanatical,"
"unpatriotic," and "thriving on chaos," and warned the public
that police would arrest protesters who deliberately tried to
"destabilize the peace of the nation by honking in protest."
Pictures in the press of diplomats attending the CSO press
conference fueled ongoing accusations that diplomats are
plotting with the opposition to overthrow the government.
The tug-of-war between civil society and the GRZ is the
latest example of the GRZ' attempt to subvert dissent and
deflect criticism by invoking themes of sovereignty and
stability, while villainizing its opponents and foreign
governments. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Police arrested nine motorists -- including Patriotic
Front (PF) Members of Parliament (MP) Mumbi Phiri and Jean
Kapata -- in Lusaka October 2 for honking their car horns to
pressure the GRZ to appeal former president Frederick
Chiluba's corruption case (ref A). The nine protesters
remain in police custody pending their initial hearings.
Phiri and Kapata were briefly released from custody and
treated at a Lusaka hospital October 4 for high blood
pressure. The protesters are charged with conduct likely to
cause a breach of peace and unnecessary hooting and, if
convicted, could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.



3. (U) Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) and 17 other
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) September 29 called on the
public to honk or whistle every Friday at 5 p.m. local for
ten minutes until the government agrees to appeal Chiluba's
acquittal to the Lusaka High Court. CSOs also called on Vice
President George Kunda and Director of Public Prosecutions
Chalwe Mchenga to resign and the National Assembly to turn
down Chiluba's request for political immunity. In spite of
the police vow to arrest protesters for destabilizing the
peace with offending honks and whistles, the CSOs vowed to
continue their protests -- and dared the police to embolden
protesters by continuing the crackdown.


4. (U) The GRZ painted the CSOs and protesters as
"fanatical," "unpatriotic" and "thriving on chaos." The
government-owned newspaper Times of Zambia claimed October 5
that "events taking place in Zambia, driven by fanatical
NGOs...bear the hallmarks of a planned uprising. Zambia has
enjoyed peace since independence in 1964 and certain
institutions making up the NGOs are those that thrive on
chaos." The newspaper accused Catholic CSOs Caritas Zambia
and the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection for acting
on old grudges held by the Catholic Church against the GRZ
for nationalizing Catholic institutions during the Kaunda
regime and passing the NGO law enacted August 27 (ref B).
The Times of Zambia further reported that Minister of Home
Affairs Lameck Mangani vowed October 4 that "police will
continue arresting all those who deliberately try to
destabilize the peace of the nation by honking in protest."
Mangani stated that police had been mobilized nationwide and
put on alert to arrest "those breaking the law." Police
Spokesperson Benny Kapeso said the police would be
"re-organized" the following week to arrest even more
"offending people." An October 3 editorial in the
anti-government Post noted that intolerance of peaceful
protests such as honking has put Zambia "on the path to
tyranny" and regretted that the GRZ has lost the ability to
distinguish between its own stability and that of the
country.


5. (U) GRZ Spokesman and Information Minister Lt. Gen.
Ronnie Shikapwasha and Minister of Home Affairs Mangani
accused the diplomatic community of fueling CSO protests by
claiming that diplomats were "sponsoring pressure groups"
involved with the protests (ref C). Mangani said the GRZ had
uncovered a "plot" by diplomats conducting "dark corner

LUSAKA 00000689 002 OF 002


meetings" with former government officials and NGOs to
overthrow the GRZ. Shikapwasha told the press that
government officials would meet with diplomats October 6 to
discuss whether "what the diplomats are doing have the
blessings of their respective countries. As soon as the
consultations are concluded, Zambians will see some of the
diplomats going back to their countries." (Note: On October
5 the GRZ postponed indefinitely the summons to diplomatic
missions.) A protest allegedly organized by civil society
groups outside the British High Commission October 5 against
"diplomatic interference" in Zambian internal matters fizzled
with a handful of reporters showing up to cover the
non-event.


6. (C) CSOs' strong reaction to the GRZ' failure to appeal
the Chiluba case is fueled by their conviction that the Banda
administration pressured the magistrate presiding over
Chiluba's case, Jones Chinyama, to acquit in spite of what
the CSOs consider overwhelming evidence of Chiluba's guilt
(ref D). TIZ Director Goodwell Lungu told PolOff that an
unknown presidential advisor visited Magistrate Chinyama
August 14 just before the Chiluba judgment was to be
announced. Chinyama subsequently postponed the judgment --
and acquittal -- until August 17, struck from the record
several pages of text allegedly convicting Chiluba, and
inserted 20 pages of text into the decision acquitting him.
Task Force for Corruption prosecutor Mutumbo Nchito told
EmbOffs that he also believed Chinyama was coerced by an
unidentified presidential advisor. Nchito and an LES of this
mission who studied under Chinyama insists that the
additional 20 pages are not in Chinyama's handwriting.


7. (C) COMMENT: The tug-of-war between civil society and
the GRZ is the latest in a series of attempts by the GRZ to
subvert dissent by invoking themes of sovereignty and
stability, and villainizing its opponents and foreign
governments. CSOs' method of protest revisits their
successful 2001 protests-by-honking campaign that led
then-president Chiluba to abandon his quest for a third
presidential term. The CSOs are undoubtedly hoping that
history will repeat itself, while the GRZ is using a heavy
hand to ensure that this form of protest does not become a
vehicle for forcing the government to change its course.
President Banda's return to Zambia October 4 after two weeks
away at UNGA, the South America-Africa summit in Caracas, and
a state visit to Cuba could be a turning point; the sudden
postponement of the summons to the diplomatic heads of
missions immediately after Banda's return gives hope that
Banda will invoke some discipline over his reactionary
hardliners. With the GRZ adding daily to its list of
adversaries -- opposition parties, civil society
organizations, religious organizations, The Post, and now
even donors -- it is likely feeling more threatened and
vulnerable than ever. Our role will be talk the GRZ down off
the precipice while firmly asserting our rights to conduct
diplomatic business. END COMMENT.
KOPLOVSKY