US embassy cable - 03HARARE2105

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 002105 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/22/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, SOCI, ASEC, ZI 
SUBJECT: VIOLENCE IN REDCLIFF 
 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Win Dayton under Section 1.5(b)(d) 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY: Inter-party violence in Redcliff over the 
weekend reportedly left the homes of eight MDC members and 
two former ZANU-PF urban councilors damaged and one former 
ZANU-PF urban councilor (the father of an Embassy FSN) 
hospitalized.  Hundreds of MDC supporters assaulted a senior 
ZANU-PF local official on October 17, ostensibly in response 
to ZANU-PF attacks on the homes of four MDC supporters. 
ZANU-PF responded with attacks on four more MDC houses. 
Eleven MDC youths and two ZANU-PF youths have been arrested 
and remain in jail, pending posting of bail.  Redcliff is a 
historical hot spot and we have not seen evidence that 
Redcliff's experience will spread; nonetheless, sporadic 
localized violence in Zimbabwe is likely to continue, 
particularly as MDC rank and file chafe under the 
leadership's generally pacifist approach.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) Embassy FSN recounted to poloff on October 22 an 
account of an October 17 attack on her father, Bride 
Nyereyegona, by MDC supporters in the Midlands town of 
Redcliff.  By way of background, the FSN is not a party 
member and casts herself as an apolitical critic of the 
government.  She describes her father as a dyed-in-the-wool 
ZANU-PF leader in Midlands province -- a former mayor and 
urban councilor who had lost his council seat to an MDC 
candidate in the August election.  She said she and her 
father had "agreed to disagree" on political issues and 
ZANU-PF. 
 
3.  (C) According to the FSN, her father was at his liquor 
store in Redcliff on October 17, when up to 400 MDC 
supporters surged into and around his store.  Several of them 
began to beat him, eventually leaving him cut, bruised, 
unconscious, and short several teeth.  During the beating, he 
heard one assailant say they would kill him but another urged 
that he be left alone.  Eventually, the crowd left him and 
proceeded without him to his home about 500 meters away, 
where they destroyed a wall inside his home, broke windows, 
and stoned his car.  She said that the homes of two other 
ZANU-PF members were attacked by MDC supporters the same 
night.  Nyereyegona was hospitalized until Sunday and 
released.  Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Rugare Gumba was 
among the steady flow of ZANU-PF well-wishers who visited 
Nyereyegona in a show of party support.  The FSN said her 
father did not suggest a pretext for the attack other than 
that he was a ZANU-PF leader and a target for MDC elements 
emboldened by their urban council victories.  He had charged 
that one of the trucks used to bring in MDC activists from 
out of town belonged to one of the current MDC councilors. 
 
4.  (C) Abednigo Malinga, MDC MP for Silobela, who resides in 
Redcliff and was there during the weekend, provided 
additional details and context to poloff on October 22. 
According to Malinga, ZANU-PF youths had started the latest 
round of violence with attacks on the separate homes of two 
MDC city councilors and two party activists on October 16. 
The homes were stoned, with home entries and furniture broken 
up in two cases.  Malinga said the MDC's youth element in the 
area "had had enough."  They retaliated by going after the 
homes of the two ZANU-PF local leaders believed to have been 
responsible for organizing the initial attacks and previous 
ones during pre-election periods dating back to 2000.  One of 
them was roughed up.  ZANU-PF responded by attacking the 
homes of four more MDC activists later Friday night.  On 
October 18, police arrested 11 MDC youths and two ZANU-PF 
youths in connection with the attacks.  All received hearings 
on October 21 and remain in jail pending posting of ZD100,000 
(USD17.70 at the parallel market exchange rate -- relatively 
high bail by historical local standards).  Bail conditions 
include a prohibition against entering the township where the 
trouble occurred and a requirement that each report to the 
police every Friday. 
 
5.  (C) Malinga attributed the violence to central direction 
by ZANU-PF superiors and police inability and/or 
unwillingness to control the situation.  He said he had 
called police on innumerable occasions in the past to report 
violence against him or fellow party members but the police 
had never taken action.  Most recently, he reported to police 
a call from an irate local war veteran leader the night of 
October 17 in which the veteran said the violence commenced 
by the MDC would end up at Malinga's doorstep.  Malinga said 
he urged the veteran to join him in trying to calm their 
respective constituents -- to no avail.  Malinga said he had 
civil relations with several ZANU-PF local leaders but found 
them powerless to affect the situation in view of the 
involvement of outside elements.  Malinga was unable to offer 
evidence of outside direction other than that ZANU-PF 
provided food and resources to the youths causing trouble in 
the area.  Malinga asserted that the MDC leadership had firm 
control of its youth membership and would not permit them to 
get "out of hand", notwithstanding the experiences of last 
weekend.  He said nearby Kwekwe was experiencing similar 
violence in the wake of urban council elections (ZANU-PF won 
most council seats there in one of the more problematic 
elections here) but he was unaware of other flashpoints since 
the elections. 
 
6.  (C) COMMENT: It remains unclear the extent to which 
recent localized violence against the opposition is directed 
by senior government or ruling party officials as Malinga 
suggests; certainly the climate of impunity continues to be 
fostered and sanctioned at the highest levels.  The MDC 
leadership retains non-violence as a central plank in its 
national platform but may have increasing difficulty keeping 
a lid on the frustrations of its rank and file, particularly 
as talks on talks show little progress.  For now, we expect 
violence to remain sporadic and localized but do not discount 
the possibility that retaliation could escalate and spread, 
spurred in part by the absence of media coverage and 
effective police control. 
SULLIVAN