US embassy cable - 03HARARE2179

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 002179 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINR, ZI, MDC 
SUBJECT: GOZ BLAMES HARARE CITY COUNCIL FOR WATER 
SHORTAGES, SUSPENDS SIX MDC COUNCILORS 
 
REF: HARARE 1973 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Audu Besmer for reasons 1.5 b/d 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: For the past several weeks, the government 
press has blamed Harare's MDC-dominated City Council for 
myriad woes and has depicted a Council mired in personnel 
conflicts and improper procedures.  It is possible the GOZ is 
gearing up to dismiss the entire Council and replace it with 
a ruling commission--something it has done in recent years 
with ZANU-PF councils.  The MDC for its part is struggling to 
enforce party discipline while maintaining unity.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
Water - Dirty and in Short Supply 
--------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) The government-controlled Herald has been running one 
to three articles daily on Harare's water crisis for the past 
week; articles on the water crisis have been a regular 
feature in the paper for the past year.  According to The 
Herald, residents in high-density suburbs of Mabvuku, Tafara, 
Hatcliffe, Epworth, Greendale and Hogerty Hill are porting 
water in wheelbarrows from nearby reservoirs, and those with 
wells on their property are selling buckets of water to their 
neighbors.  In several areas, water supplies have been 
intermittent since August 2002.  Some neighborhoods are now 
facing daily shortages with no water, or insufficient amounts 
to even flush toilets--creating disease-spreading 
conditions--according to the Herald. 
 
3. (SBU) Most of the recent articles blame the Harare City 
Council for failing to address this crisis adequately, even 
as the same articles acknowledge that Harare City Councils 
since the 1990s have failed to make adequate upgrades to 
water-pumping and treatment systems.  The Herald reported 
that Harare city engineers have been predicting this crisis 
for years.  (Note: Suspended Harare Mayor Elias Mudzuri is a 
former Harare city engineer.  End Note.) 
 
4. (U) The Herald reported that the city's pumping capacity 
is 580 megaliters daily, whereas demand is 700 megaliters, 
with population growing at seven percent annually.  Similar 
situations exist in a host of Zimbabwean cities, where 
drought, equipment failure, and a declining revenue base 
handicap delivery of most municipal sources. 
 
5. (C) A quick poll of Embassy local staff revealed that 
several neighborhoods, both high and low density, have 
experienced water shortages, or no water, intermittently for 
the past month or so.  Most people subject to shortages get 
water from neighbors with wells or from nearby reservoirs or 
streams.  There have been no reports of riots or strong 
public outcry against the problem. 
 
6. (U) On October 14, The Herald reported that supplies of 
oxygen gas for the City of Harare's ambulances and hospitals 
had become erratic, and that some newborn babies had died 
because of it. 
 
7. (C) Over lunch on October 23, the Ambassador told MDC 
President Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC Secretary General 
Welshman Ncube that the MDC was paying a political price by 
allowing city services to fall victim to the disruptive 
tactics of Minister Chombo. Tsvangirai agreed that the MDC 
could not dismiss the need for adequate delivery of services 
in Harare, but observed that the MDC faced "acute acrimony" 
with the Ministry of Local Government.  Ncube said that the 
party was simply not prepared for this level of central 
government hostility, and conceded that the MDC leadership 
needed to coordinate better with the council. 
 
Hiring, Firing, Rehiring, Refiring 
---------------------------------- 
 
8. (U) Both the independent press and The Herald have 
reported recently on a drama within the Harare City Council 
concerning the firing and rehiring of Town Clerk Nomutsa 
Chideya.  Mudzuri fired Chideya in October 2002, but he was 
reinstated after the Mayor was suspended.  The Council 
suspended him (again) on October 1, but reinstated him in mid 
October under pressure from the Ministry (see below).  In the 
first week of October, Chideya suspended City Treasurer 
Misheck Mubvumbi for not cooperating with the Commission set 
up to investigate Mudzuri.  Despite documentary evidence that 
he had cooperated with the Commission, police enforced 
Mubvumbi's suspension, and his salary and benefits have been 
withdrawn. 
 
9. (U) On October 21, Minister of Local Government Ignatius 
Chombo suspended six councilors, reportedly for objecting to 
Chideya's reinstatement and disrupting council meetings.  The 
six councilors are Falls Nhari, Fani Munengami, Jerome 
O'Brien, Kenneth Nhemachena, Benjamin Maimba and Tsaurai 
Marima.  The Ministry of Local Government had previously 
attempted to suspend Nhari, Munengami and O'Brien and three 
other MDC councilors but the suspensions were overruled by 
the High Court on September 11 because the Minister himself 
had not signed them (reftel). 
Freshman Cracking Under Pressure 
-------------------------------- 
 
10. (C) As reported reftel, although forty-four out of 
forty-five Harare councilors are from the MDC, about twelve 
councilors are seen to be accommodating the ruling party, 
about twelve are towing the MDC line, and the remaining 
twenty seem to be unaligned.  The councilors suspended by the 
Ministry are some who were towing the MDC line.  Combined 
Harare Residents' Association Chairman Mike Davies suggested 
that councilors fear that the Minister will suspend them if 
they vote against Ministerial interests, and they are afraid 
of losing their salaries and benefits. 
 
11. (C) MDC Harare provincial head Morgan Femai said that 
Minister Chombo invited councilors to an all-expenses paid 
retreat to Victoria Falls in early October at which he gave 
some of them spending money--allegedly Z$260,000 (US$46.00). 
When the councilors got back to Harare Femai said that the 
Minister communicated to those who had taken the money that 
they would need to vote however the Minister said they 
should, or they would need to return the money.  Femai said 
that in a mid-October council meeting concerning the 
reinstatement of the Town Clerk, some councilors boycotted, 
others abstained, but some voted for the reinstatement, even 
though the council had voted for his suspension on October 1 
and councilors had agreed in a previous MDC caucus to 
maintain the suspension. 
 
12. (C) Femai said that the Minister rejected the council's 
budget submission in June, and instead proposed a different 
budget which included the additional employment of some 800 
ZANU-PF youths as general laborers.  Femai said that many 
councilors were to afraid to speak out against the new budget 
and instead voted to approve it. 
 
13. (C) Both Femai and Chaibva complained that many of the 
MDC's Harare City councilors were political freshman, unable 
to comprehend the issues and implications of this type of 
complicit voting.  Chaibva said a primary problem was a 
simple lack of intellectual capacity, and Femai said that the 
MDC's vetting of future council candidates would need to be 
more rigorous in the future. 
 
MDC SNAFU in Suspending Councilors 
---------------------------------- 
 
14. (C) On about October 15, Femai attempted to suspend eight 
of the MDC councilors who have been accommodating the ruling 
party from their positions as councilors for failing to 
follow MDC directives.  MDC Shadow Minister of Local 
Government Gabriel Chaibva said the suspensions were improper 
because under the Zimbabwe and MDC constitutions, the MDC 
does not have the authority to suspend its own councilors 
from their positions as councilors.  Several of the eight 
suspended did hold positions within the party in the Harare 
provincial structure, such as treasurer and youth chair. 
Although the MDC leadership had authorized the suspensions, 
the result has been confusion.  Chaibva said that the MDC 
leadership, represented by Secretary General Welshman Ncube, 
overturned the councilor suspensions, and instead authorized 
Femai to suspend the councilors only from their positions 
within the Harare provincial structure. 
 
15. (C) Chaibva said that under the MDC's constitution, MDC 
National Disciplinary Committee hearings were necessary to 
request a councilor to resign--those hearings are now 
scheduled and might be completed within two to three weeks. 
Party President Morgan Tsvangirai confirmed to the Ambassador 
on October 23 that some disciplinary action was likely within 
two weeks.  However, even if the Disciplinary Committee 
requests that these councilors resign, under Zimbabwean law 
they have no obligation to do so.  The MDC could then expel 
them from the party, but many want to avoid such divisive 
action.  Unlike party-expelled parliamentarians, Zimbabwean 
law does not require councilors expelled from their party to 
be replaced in council.  If they resign their positions, a 
by-election would be scheduled.  Miffed that his disciplinary 
efforts were undermined despite prior consultations with the 
MDC leadership, Femai nevertheless denied divisiveness within 
the MDC in conversations with Emboffs.  The result seems to 
have been confusion over procedural and legal matters.  Both 
Femai and Chaibva emphasized the need to enforce party 
discipline, and Femai criticized the Secretary General's 
leniency with recalcitrant elements as "potentially 
disastrous" in the long run.  Suspended Mayor Mudzuri is also 
frustrated that his efforts to sideline those MDC councilors 
who have cooperated with Minister Chombo have failed. 
 
16. (C) COMMENT: The GOZ's strategy of overturning council 
decisions, publicizing water and oxygen shortages, and 
fomenting dissent within the Harare City Council is 
essentially fomenting dissent within the MDC.  Civil society 
observers and MDC members fear that the GOZ may be preparing 
to dismiss the entire council and replace it with a ruling 
commission--as was done with a ZANU-PF council from 1999 
until the current council and suspended mayor were elected in 
March 2002.  At this point the GOZ appears to be successfully 
continuing with its strategy to excise councilors who oppose 
ruling party interests, and rewarding councilors and 
officials who support them.  In the meantime, the MDC's 
inability so far to resolve competing priorities of 
discipline and unity in Harare politics are giving it a black 
eye. 
SULLIVAN