US embassy cable - 03HARARE2140

UNCLAS HARARE 002140 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR AF/S 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER 
USDOC FOR 2037 DIEMOND 
TREASURY FOR OREN WYCHE-SHAW 
PASS USTR FLORIZELLE LISER 
STATE PASS USAID FOR MARJORIE COPSON 
 
E. O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EINV, PGOV, ZI 
SUBJECT: Rare Public Rift Among GOZ Ministries 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: Disagreement among moderates and 
hardliners has spilled into public fora, a rare and 
refreshing occurrence in this insular government. End 
summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Over the past year, the GOZ's media and more 
militant ministers have increasingly castigated the GOZ's 
economic team for mismanagement.  Pusillanimous Reserve 
Bank (RBZ) and Finance Ministry officials have 
consistently ignored this public thrashing.  Recently, 
however, one official decided to strike back. 
 
Interventionist Proposals Spook Lender 
-------------------------------------- 
3. (SBU) On October 10, the State-run Herald led with 
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made's plan to reconstitute 
the defunct Agricultural Marketing Authority, a 
parastatal that purchased all Zimbabwean tobacco until 
1994.  The timing could not have been worse.  Apparently, 
Made's remarks boosted Zimbabwe's already-stratospheric 
risk factor, scaring off an international financier 
prepared to lend US$30 million against future tobacco 
earnings.  When Made subsequently lashed out at the RBZ 
for failing to release the funds for inputs for resettled 
farmers - the Herald's October 21 lead story - Deputy 
Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri fought back.  He told the 
Business Tribune that it was Made's, not RBZ's, fault 
that the US$30 deal fell through, since the lender backed 
out only because Made proposed nationalizing tobacco 
purchases.  Kuruneri has publicly called upon Made to 
clarify his position. 
 
4. (SBU) An RBZ director told us Kuruneri's rebuke of 
Made lifted spirits on the central bank's sullen staff. 
However, the RBZ director said Kuruneri may not embolden 
many others on the economic team to speak out.  Outgoing 
RBZ Governor Leonard Tsumba left his post as a "beaten 
man" and the Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa is "too 
much of a gentleman." 
 
Comment 
------- 
5.  (SBU) It seems RBZ and Finance officials will 
continue to belittle self-defeating economic policies in 
private - but refuse to admit the Emperor has no clothes 
in public. 
 
Sullivan