US embassy cable - 04HARARE540

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000540 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER, D. TEITELBAUM 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
DS/OP/AF 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, PINR, ASEC, ZI, ZANU-PF, MDC 
SUBJECT: MINISTER REPORTEDLY SHOOTS OPPOSITION MEMBER AS 
VIOLENCE, INTIMIDATION, IRREGULARITIES MAR BY-ELECTION 
 
REF: HARARE 530 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Audu Besmer for reasons 1.5 b/d 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: Two eyewitnesses identified Minister without 
portfolio Elliott Manyika as a shooter in an incident on the 
second day of voting in Zengeza that left one dead and 11 
injured.  Emboffs observed several instances of voting 
irregularities during the voting days: double voting lines, 
assisted voting, an unexplained name registry near a polling 
station.  Given the violence, intimidation, and 
irregularities, whoever wins, it cannot be said that the poll 
was free and fair.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) Emboffs participated in a diplomatic observation 
effort and observed voting on March 27 - 28 in Zengeza (a 
high-density suburb of Harare).  According to the 
GOZ-controlled Herald, 15,388 votes were cast, and 1,293 
prospective voters were turned away.  There are 47,256 
registered voters in Zengeza.  Results are expected to be 
announced in the afternoon of March 29.  In the 2000 and 2002 
elections in Zengeza MDC candidates polled about 15,000 
votes, while ZANU-PF candidates polled about 5,400 votes 
(Ref). 
 
Minister Shoots MDC Activists? 
------------------------------ 
 
3. (C) Tendekayi Mswata, MDC youth leader in Zengeza, and 
Stephen Nyijaz, MDC youth security commander, confirmed a 
report by the South African Press Association that Minister 
without portfolio Elliott Manyika on March 28 shot two MDC 
members, killing one.  Mswata said that at 9:00 a.m. on the 
second day of voting, a group of five ZANU-PF youths 
approached the home of MDC candidate James Makore and began 
to hurl stones.  A group of about 60 MDC youths camped in 
Makore's yard threw stones back and the ZANU-PF youths 
retreated.  Some minutes later six pick-up trucks stopped on 
the road outside Makore's house and about 60 ZANU-PF youths 
carrying batons, axes and slingshots jumped out and attacked 
the MDC youths and the house.  The MDC youths again threw 
stones back, about 10 MDC youths sustained soft-tissue 
injuries, and the ZANU-PF group retreated beyond the parked 
cars. 
 
4. (C) During the attack many MDC youths reached the area of 
the parked vehicles.  According to Mswata and Nyijaz, who 
said they were present for the entire event, from the back of 
the ZANU-PF group Minister Manyika drew a pistol and yelled 
at the ZANU-PF group to part so he could shoot.  Manyika then 
shot at least two shots into the MDC crowd.  One bullet 
struck MDC youth member Francis Chinozvinya in the chest--he 
was confirmed dead at a Harare clinic within three hours. 
The other wounded MDC youth Arthur Gunzvenzve in the leg. 
Mswata was three yards away from Chinozvinya when the shots 
were fired.  Mswata said that Manyika was 60-70 yards from 
the victims.  Mswata said that he recognized Manyika's car, 
and Manyika himself from his frequent television appearances. 
 The MDC youths recorded the license plate numbers of the 
vehicles involved.  Mswata said that other ZANU-PF officials 
present were Zengeza ZANU-PF official Murinda Ngomo and 
Minister of Mines Amos Midzi.  Mswata said about four other 
ZANU-PF members had guns but did not fire them.  Nyijaz, 
however, did not see anyone else with guns. 
 
5. (U) MDC officials said they filed a police report at St. 
Mary's police station near Zengeza.  Emboffs have seen 
Manyika on several occasions at previous recent by-elections 
assisting in campaigning and giving campaign speeches at 
ZANU-PF rallies. 
 
6. (U) MDC officials said that stone-throwing ZANU-PF youths 
attacked Makore's house on March 10 (Ref), March 24 (eight 
injured), March 25 (12 injured), March 26 (13 injured), and 
March 27 (unspecified number injured), in addition to the 
above March 28 incident. 
 
7. (C) Emboffs arrived at the Takakunda Primary School 
polling station minutes after a stone-fight had taken place 
(there were stones strewn all over the street for a block in 
each direction).  Police present said that party youths had 
clashed.  MDC officials said that ZANU-PF youths had stoned a 
line of MDC voters.  Police arrested three MDC members. 
Emboffs observed the voters waiting outside the wall of the 
polling station compound complaining that they had waited a 
long time and had not been let in yet. 
 
8. (U) A doctor at a Harare medical clinic said the clinic 
had treated about 75 people from March 26 - 29 for 
soft-tissue injuries sustained during interparty violence in 
Zengeza. 
 
Youths Intimidate Voters 
------------------------ 
 
9. (C) Emboffs observed groups of both MDC and ZANU-PF youths 
(some ZANU-PF youths reportedly militia members (Ref)), some 
consuming alcohol, going around Zengeza.  ZANU-PF youths were 
also present at several polling stations; at the Ndangariro 
Primary School polling station ZANU-PF youths heckled and 
swore at Emboffs.  On another occasion a gang of unidentified 
youths made threatening gestures toward Emboff in his 
vehicle.  At the Zengeza Three Secondary School polling 
station polling officials accused Canadian, Swedish and 
Nigerian diplomats of being responsible for colonialism and 
threatened to burn their Canadian Embassy vehicle.  MDC 
officials complained that the groups of ZANU-PF youths 
stationed near polling stations intimidated MDC voters away 
from standing in line to vote. 
 
Irregularities 
-------------- 
 
10. (C) At many of the eleven polling stations there were two 
lines for voters to enter.  There is no provision in Zimbabwe 
electoral law for two lines at polling stations.  MDC 
officials at the polling stations said that people in one 
line were groups of ZANU-PF voters and were allowed to vote 
before the other line.  (Comment:  With voter lines reaching 
up to 700 people by midday on Saturday, traditionally the day 
when most people vote, delays imposed by preferential 
treatment may have prompted some to leave without voting. 
End Comment.)  Presiding officers (the civil servants who run 
the polling stations) at polling stations with two lines 
generally acknowledged the problem and said it was being 
resolved; however, Emboffs never witnessed any line 
unification. 
 
11. (C) At one polling station emboff observed a succession 
of four to five so-called "assisted voters".  Young voters 
were being assisted to vote while behind the voting booth by 
a ZANU-PF official, a police officer, and an Electoral 
Supervisory Commission (ESC) official.  Assisted voting is 
ostensibly carried out for voters who cannot read ballot 
papers, or who otherwise do not understand how to mark the 
ballot.  The MDC charged that the ruling party paid voters 
Z$10,000 (US$2.33) to participate in assisted voting where 
their vote would be cast for ZANU-PF.  Poloffs conferred with 
station presiding officers regarding the total numbers of 
votes cast so far, the numbers of assisted voters, and the 
numbers of prospective voters turned away.  The percentage of 
assisted voters fluctuated between 2 - 18 percent at several 
polling stations where figures were provided.  Dr. Reginald 
Matchaba-Hove, Director of the Zimbabwe Election Support 
Network (ZESN), said he was surprised at the number of young 
people who claimed to be illiterate and who needed voting 
assistance.  The Herald reported that 8.4 percent of voters 
were turned away for not being on the voters' roll, or for 
lack of proper identification. 
 
12. (C) At the Dudzai Primary School polling station Emboffs 
observed a man with a 10-20 page handwritten list of names. 
People who had just voted appeared to check in with him 
before exiting the area of the polling station.  A Canadian 
diplomat asked the man what the list was for; the man hid the 
list and ran away.  Other people nearby starting singing 
hymns and said they were a church group and the list was a 
list of their members.  The MDC alleges that such lists are 
used to confirm votes for ZANU-PF so the voters can claim 
some cash or other benefit. 
 
13. (C) The MDC and The Standard, an independent weekly, 
reported that a "free" medical clinic set up by ZANU-PF 
candidate Christopher Chigumba in Zengeza would only accept 
people confirmed as ZANU-PF voters with a letter from the 
local ZANU-PF office. 
 
Comment: 
-------- 
 
14. (C) Regardless of which party wins the Zengeza election, 
given the violence and intimidation during both the 
pre-election period and on the voting days themselves, it 
cannot be said to have been free and fair.  Reftel suggested 
that the race might be close and we still believe both 
parties have a reasonable chance of winning. 
 
15. (C) The reported involvement of Minister Manyika in the 
shooting is troubling.  Manyika is an above average tall man 
with a patch of white hair near his forehead, i.e. easily 
identifiable.  In an emotionally charged atmosphere, however, 
we cannot discount the possibility of mistaken identity or 
fabrication.  The picture may become clearer as more of the 
many witnesses step forward. 
 
16. (C) The former Governor of Mashonaland Central, Manyika 
recently sacrificed his portfolio as Minister of Youth, 
Gender Development and Employment Creation, where he oversaw 
the controversial National Youth Service Camps, among other 
things.  As Minister without portfolio he appears to have 
assumed full time responsibilities on the campaign trail. 
Indeed, the party's approach in Zengeza mirrors the violent 
campaign conducted by Manyika in his own Bindura by-election 
in 2001, and is likely a portend of campaigns to come in the 
run-up to the National Parliamentary elections scheduled for 
next March. 
SULLIVAN