ZIM NOTES 02-05-2010

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000100 SIPDIS AF/S FOR B. WALSH ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR STATE PASS TO USAID FOR L. DOBBINS AND J. HARMON COMMERCE FOR ROBERT TELCHIN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC PHUM ZI SUBJECT: ZIM NOTES 02-05-2010 -------------- ¶1. SUMMARY -------------- IMF to Restore Voting Rights-Biti... Circular Arguments... ACR Reports Offices Raided... Dozens Arrested While Discussing the Constitution... Zimbabwe Named to AU's Security Council... MDC-M Spokesman Defects... MDC Councilors Accused of Killing a ZANU-PF Councilor... AG Admits (Some) Mistakes... Police Arrest Private Newspaper Employees... Anglicans Gather In Protest Service... Central Bank Defaults on Bond... Zimbabwe to Import Grain... Government Restricts Foreign Travel... RBZ Farm Mechanization Beneficiaries to Repay... -------------- On the Political and Social Front -------------- ¶2. The Zimbabwe Independent quotes Minister of Finance Tendai Biti, who returned this week from visits to Washington, London, and Germany, as stating, "We were pushing for the restoration of Zimbabwe's voting rights in the IMF. The U.S. will support us, and we made similar requests to Germany and the UK, who will also support us in this regard." ¶3. President Mugabe issued a circular this week implying that ministers should report to the two vice presidents -- Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo of ZANU-PF -- instead of PM Tsvangirai. The directive lays out supervisory responsibilities for Mujuru over social, agricultural, and infrastructural ministries, and for Nkomo over financial, economic, and environmental ministries. The controversial circular was immediately challenged by Tsvangirai who charged that it was in violation of the GPA and therefore unconstitutional. Finance Minister Biti also released an MDC statement this week blasting ZANU-PF for attempting to sabotage the inclusive government. The circular follows reports from MDC negotiators that their ZANU-PF counterparts have adopted entrenched negotiating positions since the ZANU-PF party Congress in December. HARARE 00000100 002 OF 004 ¶4. Mining firm African Consolidated Resources (ACR) reported that on February 3 their offices in Harare were raided by well-armed gunmen. Eight men reportedly armed with AK-47s broke into ACR's offices shortly after midnight and left with computer equipment and a vehicle. ACR is embroiled in an ownership dispute over diamond rights with the government and two private mining firms, Mbada and Canadile. Last week, the Supreme Court ordered that Zimbabwean mining parastatal Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) hand over diamonds taken from ACR to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. That transfer has now been put on hold because of security concerns. ¶5. On January 30 in Mt. Darwin, police broke up an MDC meeting on the constitution and arrested all 52 MDC supporters in attendance. Police force-marched the group to the police station where most were released without charge. Eleven, including the MDC's chairman for Mashonaland Central were detained, charged with breaching security laws, and released on bail on February 4. Separately, 22 Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) activists were arrested while discussing constitutional reform in a private house in Bulawayo on February 2. They were released the same day without charge, and police apologized noting they "didn't know they were WOZA members." ¶6. At the African Union summit in Ethiopia earlier this week, Zimbabwe was named to the Peace and Security Council. Zimbabwe will retain a seat at the 15-member council for two to three years. ¶7. Gabriel Chaibva, MDC-M's spokesman, announced this week that he was leaving the party and joining ZANU-PF. In his resignation Chaibva said he wanted to "work hard for the people's party, ZANU-PF, to regain its revolutionary image as the defender of our freedom, democracy, and the gains of our liberation struggle." ¶8. Three MDC councilors in Banket, Mashonaland West, including Fanny Tembo and Emmanuel Chinanzavana (who were abducted and tortured by security agents in 2008),were arrested on January 28 and charged with abducting and killing a ZANU-PF councilor in Banket. The three remain in jail after numerous delays in scheduling a bail hearing. ¶9. Attorney General Johannes Tomana conceded that his law officers and prosecutors had at times misjudged when they invoked section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (CPEA) to effectively reverse the granting of bail by magistrates or judges. Section 121 is essentially an appeal of the decision granting bail and forces the accused to remain in custody for 7 days until the government makes a decision whether to appeal. In most cases, the government does not appeal; the procedure is a harassment technique to extract additional custody. The provision has been used repeatedly since 2008, particularly in political cases. Testifying before a parliamentary committee, Tomana said he could not rule out "malice, corruption, misjudgment, and human error" on the part of his law officers when invoking section 121. HARARE 00000100 003 OF 004 ¶10. Police officers forced their way in to an apartment belonging to independent newspaper The Zimbabwean on Wednesday. Officers took two employees (believed to be marketing officers) to a nearby police station and released them the same day without charge. The apartment is used by stringers who write for The Zimbabwean, which is published in South Africa and the UK. ¶11. Approximately 3,000 members of the regional body of the Anglican Church, the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) gathered in Harare's Africa Unity Square on January 31 to pray for peace and to protest their continued inability to access Anglican churches. For nearly three years, rogue ex-Anglican bishop and ZANU-PF stalwart Nolbert Kunonga has used his influence and the police to prevent members of the CPCA from accessing Anglican churches, schools, cemeteries, and other property. Harare's CPCA Bishop Chad Gandiya led the service and prayed for peace, noting the irony of holding the service directly across the street from the locked Anglican cathedral. The service was not disrupted by the police or Kunonga's handful of supporters. -------------- On the Economic and Business Front -------------- ¶12. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has failed to redeem on time the gold bonds it issued for gold delivered by mining companies in 2007 and 2008. The financially distressed central bank extended the life of the bonds by another six months pending the outcome of talks on funding with the Ministry of Finance. The RBZ has also failed to refund over US$34 million owed to platinum producer Zimplats, hoping government will take over the debt. These defaults and calls for indigenization of mines pose a threat to the nascent recovery now evident in the mining sector. ¶13. Preliminary estimates show that Zimbabwe is likely to produce only a quarter of its two-million-ton maize requirement in 2010. The huge deficit has been caused by a dry spell that hit most parts of Zimbabwe in January and the continued farm invasions. The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union has urged the government to start preparing to import grain in order to avert starvation. More reliable estimates should be forthcoming in the next few weeks. ¶14. The Chief Secretary to Cabinet has issued instructions restricting foreign travel by government officials to critical businesses that support the economic recovery process. The goal is a reduction in the number of both trips and delegates as a way of reducing costs. During his 2010 budget speech, Finance Minister Biti reported that foreign travel by government officials had gobbled US$28.6 million, more than the GOZ spent on social sectors. HARARE 00000100 004 OF 004 ¶15. Hamstrung by a shortage of funds, RBZ Governor Gono now wants new farmers who benefited from the farm mechanization program to start repaying for equipment they received from the RBZ out of this year's harvest. According to the Financial Gazette, the debt recovery process is expected to realize US$1 billion which will be used to recapitalize the RBZ. Fat chance. -------------- Quote of the Week -------------- ¶16. "ZANU-PF continues to use the public media, the constitutional process, the commercial farms, the diamond mines and the civil service as the battlefields for its destructive agenda aimed at perpetuating their selfish grip on power. Their determination to enrich themselves at the expense of national development risks keeping all our citizens mired in poverty." -- Finance Minister and MDC-T Secretary General Tendai Biti in a statement issued by the MDC-T on February 2, 2010. RAY RAY