US embassy cable - 04HARARE292

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000292 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER, TEITELBAUM 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, ZI 
SUBJECT: NEW CABINET MEMBER BIOS 
 
REF: HARARE 249 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL OFFICER KIMBERLY JEMISON FOR REASONS 1.5 B/D. 
 
 1.  (C) Reftel reported President Mugabe's February 9 
cabinet reshuffle.  As promised reftel, we provide below 
additional biographic information on the new appointees (we 
have not included cabinet members who retained the same 
portfolios or were switched to another portfolio): 
 
------------------- 
MINISTERS OF STATE 
------------------- 
For Policy Implementation 
------------------------- 
2. (U) Webster Shamu is the Minister of State for Policy 
Implementation, a new cabinet position. A war veteran of 
Zezeru ethnicity, he is the MP for Chegutu and the Chair of 
the Parliament Public Service, Labor, and Social Welfare 
Committee.  He is also a former Mashonaland West ZANU-PF 
provincial chair and former editor of The People,s Voice, 
the ZANU-PF mouthpiece.  He recently acquired a safari 
company, HHK Safaris, in connection with which he traveled to 
the U.S. in February 2004 to solicit business. 
 
3. (SBU) Shamu,s MP election was a violent affair with 
ZANU-PF mobs accused of enforcing no-go areas against MDC 
activists. The black commercial farmer defeated by Shamu for 
the seat alleged that Shamu had threatened him with the loss 
of his farm if he did not withdraw a petition contesting the 
election results.  After he did not withdraw the petition, 
his farm was invaded.  Shamu denied any involvement with the 
loss of the successful farm, which reportedly was parceled 
out to ZANU-PF supporters. 
 
4. (U) Shamu on occasion has publicly called for more harmony 
between parties and for equal protection of MDC interests 
under the law.  He spoke out publicly in support of jailed 
colleague Philip Chiyangwa in January 2004. Shamu is a key 
political figure in Mashonaland West and is understood to be 
a supporter of Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Speaker of Parliament 
and aspiring successor to Mugabe. 
 
5. (U) Shamu was born June 6, 1945 in Harare.  His nom de 
guerre during the liberation struggle was Charles Ndhlovu. 
 
For Indigenization and Empowerment 
---------------------------------- 
6. (U) Retired Chief Air Marshal Josiah Tungamirai is the new 
Minister of State for Indigenization and Empowerment and the 
newly elected MP for Gutu North, the seat left vacant by VP 
Simon Muzenda,s death.  He is also the ZANU-PF Secretary for 
Empowerment and Indigenization. 
 
7. (U) After independence, Tungamirai was commissioned into 
the army with the rank of Major General as Army Chief of 
Staff from 1980-1982.  In December 1982, he switched to the 
Air Force and became an Air Vice Marshal and from 1983 to 
1985 he was the Chief of Staff Operations for Air Force 
Zimbabwe.  In 1986, he became Air Force Commander with the 
rank of Air Marshal, a position he held until he retired in 
1992. 
 
8. (U) Tungamirai received a B.A. in history and a M.A. in 
strategic studies from the University of Zimbabwe in 1984 and 
1987, respectively. He was born Thomas Mberikwazvo on October 
8, 1948 in the Gutu district.  Tungamirai is the nom de 
guerre he affected during the liberation struggle. He is 
married to Pamela and they have three sons. 
 
9. (C) Tungamirai has exhibited independent and strong minded 
tendencies in the past.  He reportedly vied with party elder 
Muzenda for the Gutu North seat in an earlier election, 
reportedly withdrawing only after direction from the 
President's Office.  He has been associated with the Masvingo 
faction headed by ailing party intellectual Eddison Zvobgo. 
Tungamirai's latest candidacy was opposed by certain party 
provincial leaders, such as provincial chairman Josiah 
Hungwe, and it remains unclear whether he has successfully 
united Masvingo's sparring ruling party factions.  MDC 
figures told emboffs that Tungamirai was somebody they 
respected and with whom they could work. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
SPECIAL AFFAIRS IN THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE 
------------------------------------------ 
Anticorruption and Antimonopolies 
--------------------------------- 
10. (U) Didymus Noel Edwin Mutasa is the new Minister of 
Special Affairs for Anticorruption and Antimonopolies, a new 
cabinet position.  He is also the ZANU-PF Secretary for 
External Relations, a position he has held since July 1992. 
Mutasa has held two ministerial positions, once in 1990 as 
Senior Minister for the now defunct Ministry of Political 
Affairs and again in 1992 as Senior Minister of National 
Affairs, Employment Creation, and Cooperatives.  Prior to his 
post as Minister for Political Affairs, he was the Speaker of 
the House of Assembly in Zimbabwe's First and Second 
Parliaments.  He was elected to Parliament three times (1980, 
1985, and 1990) as the MP for Makoni Central, Manicaland. 
 
11. (SBU) Historically a party hard-liner, Mutasa has made 
his Rusape hometown a no-go area for the MDC. In November 
2002, as a response to the food crisis, Mutasa declared that 
the country would be better off without half of its 
population (a reference to opposition party MDC supporters). 
He reportedly was behind the ouster last year of Oppah 
Muchinguri, the moderate ZANU-PF governor of Manicaland. 
Mutasa has signaled interest in occupying the 
vice-presidential slot vacated on Simon Muzenda,s death in 
2003. 
 
12. (U) Mutasa became active in politics in the early 1950s 
during his student years and eventually took up the cause of 
the Tangwena people of Manicaland who were resisting forced 
removal from their traditional lands in 1959.  He was 
eventually imprisoned for his involvement with the Tangwena 
in 1970 and forced to leave the country upon his release in 
1972.  He attended the Geneva Conference on a settlement of 
the Rhodesia Conflict in 1976 and a year later began working 
full-time for ZANU in Maputo (which he had joined in 1963). 
He served as ZANU-PF Secretary for External Affairs and 
Deputy Finance Secretary in the party.  In December 1989, he 
was elected to the 160-member ZANU-PF Central Committee and 
appointed Secretary for Administration in the Politburo. 
 
13. (U) Mutasa did his secondary education in Goromonzi. 
Mutasa studied social science at Faircraft College in Britain 
for one year before reading a joint honors degree in 
Sociology and Political Science at the University of 
Birmingham.  He was born on July 27, 1935 in Rusape, 
Manicaland, to a Manyika chieftaincy family.  He is married 
to Lt. Colonel Gertrude Mutasa and has nine children.  He 
enjoys watching and playing soccer and playing table tennis. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 
-------------------------------------------- 
14. (U) David Chapfika is the new Deputy Minister of Finance 
and Economic Development.  He is also the MP for Mutoko North 
and chairs the parliamentary Budget and Finance Portfolio 
Committee. 
 
15. (U) According to the recently launched Mutoko North 
website, Chapfika is a banker by profession and has worked 
for many international banks.  He also is associated with a 
variety of agricultural and commercial enterprises.  He 
studied international trade and finance but does not hold a 
tertiary degree. 
 
16. (U) Chapfika was born on April 1, 1957 in Mutoko.  He and 
his wife, Abby, have four children (Tinase, Komborerai, 
Danai, and Anotida).  He enjoys traveling, golf, squash, and 
jogging. 
 
17. (C) Embassy officers have not been particularly impressed 
with Chapfika.  He is more the businessman looking out for 
his own interests than an intellectual heavyweight. Chapfika 
reportedly was involved in some of the dealings that brought 
down fellow ZANU-PF MP Philip Chiyangwa in early 2004 but 
quickly distanced himself from Chiyangwa and publicly denied 
any wrongdoing. In his role as Parliament Budget committee 
chairman, he has been critical of some of the GOZ,s economic 
decisions. 
 
--------------------------------- 
MINISTRY OF STATE OF HOME AFFAIRS 
--------------------------------- 
18. (U) Tongesai Shadreck Chipanga is the Deputy Minister of 
State for Home Affairs.  He is also the MP for Makoni East 
and chairman of the Parliament Justice, Legal and 
Parliamentary Affairs Committee.  Prior to his debut into 
politics, Chipanga worked in the Central Intelligence 
Organization, which he joined in the early 1980s.  Chipanga 
was appointed Deputy Director General sometime in 1990s and 
held that position until he was appointed Director General in 
1998.  He was fired from that position in either November 
1998 or May 1999. 
 
19. (SBU) Chipanga,s MP election was a violent affair with 
groups of ZANU-PF supporters accused of committing acts of 
violence against MDC supporters.  Chipanga has denied 
knowledge and participation in acts of violence in his 
constituency during the run-up period to the election.  His 
seat is one of several of the 2000 parliamentary seats 
challenged in the High Court by the MDC.  In October 2003, 
the judge ruled in favor of the MDC and Chipanga was 
technically removed from his parliamentary seat on the 
grounds of violent intimidation during the election but 
Chipanga retains the seat because he filed an appeal. 
 
20. (U) Chipanga was born on October 10, 1940.  He is 
married.  He holds a B.A. in Politics and International 
Studies from a university in the U.K. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
21.(U) Andrew Langa is the Deputy Minister of Transport and 
Communications and the MP for Insiza, a seat he won in the 
violent 2002 by-election. Prior to becoming MP for Insiza, 
Langa was the district head for the Ministry of Youth 
Development, Gender and Employment Creation, a position he 
had held since 1999. 
 
22. (U) Langa,s father, who was a ZAPU leader in Filibusi, 
got Langa interested in politics.  In 1989, Langa was elected 
into the Matabeleland South provincial youth league as the 
security guru.  In 1993, he became secretary for 
administration in the youth league.  In 1994, he became 
secretary for administration for the Filibusi ZANU-PF 
 
SIPDIS 
headquarters and in 2000 he was elected to be secretary for 
education in Matabeleland South. 
 
23. (U) Langa has a diploma in adult education from the 
University of Zimbabwe and claims to be studying for a degree 
in business administration from the University of South 
Africa. 
 
24. (U) Langa was born on January 13, 1965 in Filibusi. 
Langa and his wife, Clara, have one 15 or 16 year old 
daughter and two sons, one aged 13 or 14 the other aged 11 or 
12. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
MINISTRY OF YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, GENDER AND EMPLOYMENT CREATION 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
25. (U) Retired Brigadier Ambrose Mutinhiri is the new 
Minister of Youth Development, Gender and Employment 
Creation.  He is also the MP for Marondera West.  He was the 
Ambassador to Yugoslavia during the mid-1990s. In 2002, 
Mutinhiri forcibly seized a tobacco farm in Marondera. 
 
26. (U) Mutinhiri was commissioned into the Zimbabwe National 
Army in 1980, after having served 17 years in the liberation 
struggle.  He became Brigadier in 1987 and retired in May 
1992. 
 
27. (U) Mutinhiri has a B.S. in Public Administration. 
Mutinhiri was born in 1944.  He is married and has four 
children.  He enjoys watching soccer, tennis, playing golf 
and politics. 
 
-------------------- 
PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS 
-------------------- 
28. (U) Ndabazekhaya Cain G. Mathema is the new provincial 
governor of Bulawayo.  Prior to this post he was the 
Zimbabwean Ambassador to Zambia.  He became the Deputy 
Minister of Lands and Water Resources in 1997. Mathema joined 
the public service after independence and held many jobs 
among them deputy secretary for administration, finance, and 
human resources of the defunct parastatals commission and 
Vice President Joshua Nkomo,s deputy secretary.  He was the 
elected MP for Tsholotsho until he was defeated in the 2000 
parliamentary election. 
 
29. (U) After secondary school in 1968, Mathema trained in 
military communications and intelligence in Moscow.  He then 
studied for an honors degree in public administration and 
economics, a diploma in cooperative management and history, 
and a diploma in cooperatives in London and the U.S. during 
the liberation struggle in the 1970s. 
 
30. (U) Mathema was born on January 28, 1949 in Sipepa, 
Tsholotsho.  He is married and has three children and three 
 
SIPDIS 
stepchildren. 
31. (SBU) Mathema has been very outspoken in his criticism of 
Britain, the U.S. and the Breton Woods institutions, blaming 
them for ruining Zimbabwe's economy.  He has been combative 
and didactic in engagements with American diplomats. 
SULLIVAN