US embassy cable - 03HARARE2252

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 002252 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR S. DELISI, M. RAYNOR 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER, D. TEITELBAUM 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, ZI 
SUBJECT: MUGABE VIGNETTES 
 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Win Dayton under Section 1.5(b)(d) 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Embassy offers the following brief 
collection of personal tidbits on President Mugabe gleaned 
from the UN Resident Representative here and friends of the 
Mugabe family.  The vignettes depict an ailing, egotistical 
family man interested in leaving office but give no 
indication of when he would be prepared to leave.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
Ailing But In Command 
--------------------- 
 
2.  (C) UN Resident Representative Victor Angelo on November 
12 advised Ambassador Sullivan that Mugabe has consulted with 
a UN medical specialist about some of his medical problems. 
According to Angelo, Mugabe's ailments include periodic 
convulsions and stroke-like episodes (perhaps eschemia) 
brought on by diabetes and a lipid disorder which affects the 
covering of the brain.  He apparently suffered one of these 
episodes several weeks ago, although he never left the 
country.  Mugabe reportedly can be revived rather quickly on 
such occasions but does need to be under constant observation 
since he can fall or suffocate during the episode.  (COMMENT: 
Evidence on the nature of Mugabe's health-related "episode" 
during the weekend of October 25-26 and whether he left the 
country for medical treatment remains conflicting and 
inconclusive.  END COMMENT.)  The presidential motorcade, 
witnessed periodically hurtling through city streets at 100 
kph, always includes a marked ambulance.  In any event, 
Mugabe's public appearances and reports of his behavior in 
private suggest that he generally remains lucid and 
assertive, albeit apparently frail at times, in discharging 
the duties of his office. 
 
Contractor's Tale Exposes Ego, Insecurity 
----------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (C) According to the principal contractor (an Embassy 
employee's father-in-law related to the Mugabe family by 
marriage) in the ongoing construction of Mugabe's suburban 
"retirement" home, Mugabe takes an active role at the 
construction site.  He noted that Mugabe has placed a high 
priority on having the house ready to be occupied by the end 
of the year and makes repeated comments in private 
underscoring his eagerness to retire.  Mugabe generally 
visits the site at least a couple of times a week and has a 
formal meeting with construction principals once a week to 
review progress and to discuss issues.  At the most recent 
weekly meeting, the contractor noted that payment was not 
being made in timely manner, a problem Mugabe personally 
promised would be remedied quickly.  (COMMENT: Although we 
are unaware of other Mugabe family financial problems, the 
ruling party is feeling the crunch of the country's economic 
collapse.   The party recently suffered a default judgment in 
excess of one billion ZimDollars (USD200,000) over 
non-payment of a contract for campaign t-shirts; the party is 
working the judgment out with the ZANU-PF MP who owned a 
controlling interest in the plaintiff.  Still imposing at a 
distance, the party's 12-storey headquarters' significant 
deterioration exemplifies financial distress; visitors enter 
a vacant lobby featuring unrepaired metal detectors and 
broken windows. END COMMENT.) 
 
4.  (C) The contractor characterized Mugabe generally as 
personable and reasonable in personal engagement.  The same 
could not be said for his wife, Grace, to whom the President 
always deferred on home issues.  She constantly changed her 
mind, requiring major jobs to be redone over trivial changes 
in personal whim and with no regard to cost.  The level of 
some ceilings had been redone four times, some floors twice. 
Mugabe on occasion questioned the need for certain measures 
until the contractor indicated they had been done at Grace's 
behest, whereupon he always accepted them.  The contractor 
said the couple had serious personality conflicts and were 
essentially estranged.  They each had separate sections of 
the house and she insisted on having a separately metered 
energy source, an indication of paranoia the contractor said 
surfaced frequently. 
 
5.  (C) At a recent semi-social gathering sponsored by Mugabe 
for the construction workers, an Italian sub-contractor took 
the occasion to criticize Mugabe for "what he was doing to 
the country."  According to the contractor, Mugabe responded 
by terminating the contractor's employment on the spot and 
giving him a couple of weeks to pack his bags and get out of 
the country.  The pack-up period was a courtesy explicitly 
given ostensibly because the contractor had family here. 
 
Headmaster's Tale Bespeaks Caring Father, Hectored Husband 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
6.  (C) According to the headmaster at St George's School (an 
Embassy employee's family friend), where Mugabe's son 
attends, Mugabe takes an active interest in his son's 
education.  Mugabe recently visited the headmaster to express 
concern about his son's performance.  Mugabe told the 
headmaster that he recognized that his son was not a good 
student and suggested that he might benefit from repeating 
his current class in the next academic term.  The headmaster 
agreed but urged that a decision be deferred pending results 
of final exams yet to come.  Mugabe agreed.  Days later, 
Grace stormed into the headmaster's office screaming that she 
was the only one who could make decisions about her family. 
She accused the headmaster of thinking her son was thick 
because he thought she was thick.  She insisted that her 
son's repeating class would not be considered, which the 
headmaster took as the final word on the matter. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
7.  (C) The Italian sub-contractor's dismissal conforms to 
the pattern of intolerance Mugabe exhibits toward anybody who 
criticizes him in public or private.  Unquestioning loyalty 
remains more than ever the principal criterion for inclusion 
in Mugabe's world.  The uncritical slavish devotion demanded 
by his isolated world underlies the ruling party's 
dysfunctional policy-making and likely assures Zimbabwe's 
continued political stalemate as long as Mugabe is in charge. 
 Zimbabwe's autocrat may desire to depart office; however, we 
do not take his interest in changing residence imminently as 
an indication that the circumstances are right in his mind to 
justify retirement from office yet. 
SULLIVAN