US embassy cable - 04HARARE634

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 000634 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR S. DELISI, L. AROIAN, 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: 04/13/2009 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, ZI, MDC 
SUBJECT: POLICE, MILITARY SEIZE OPPOSITION MP'S FARM 
 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Win Dayton under Section 1.5 B/D 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  The seizure of MDC MP Roy Bennett's 
Chimanimani farm by police and military on April 9 represents 
the climax of a long-standing GOZ effort to deprive the 
prominent opposition figure of his economic and political 
base.  The forces evicted farm management from the property 
and gave remaining workers the option of leaving by April 14 
or staying on to work for the farm's new operator -- Zimbabwe 
Defense Industries ("ZDI", a company recently added to the 
USG's financial sanctions list).  Bennett's lawyers plan to 
carry the battle to the courts but hold out little hope of 
restoring the status quo ante, even with a favorable court 
order.  Press reports of security forces assaulting farm 
workers in connection with the seizure appear to be 
inaccurate.  END SUMMARY 
 
2.  (SBU) At about 4:00 a.m. on April 9 approximately 30 
police personnel and 30 military personnel, all heavily 
armed, entered opposition MP Roy Bennett's "Charleswood 
Estate" farm and sealed all the property's access points. 
Lawyers representing the farm told poloffs that the forces 
evicted six farm managers and an unspecified number of 
Bennett supporters from the farm; all now are safely lodged 
in Mutare as internally displaced persons.  Bennett was out 
of the country at the time of the seizure.  Contradicting 
press reports, the lawyers said there had been no violence 
associated with the takeover.  Security forces, which had 
maintained a small encampment at the farm's edge since more 
than a year ago, now control the farm fully. 
 
3.  (SBU) The lawyers advised that the six ejected managers 
and the farm's corporate entity would seek legal relief 
restoring the status quo ante at the farm.   However, 
security forces at the farm told farm representatives that 
they were under direct orders from Manicaland Governor (and 
ex-Brigadier General) Mike Nyambuya and the President himself 
in seizing the farm and that any countermanding court order 
would be "meaningless."   Indeed, the seizure appears to fly 
in the face of a provisional high court order issued in 
February barring police from interfering with farm 
operations. 
 
4.  (SBU) Charleswood Estate has been the scene of tense and 
sometimes violent standoffs since the GOZ began its efforts 
to take the farm more than two years ago.  Earlier this year 
a farm worker at Charleswood was shot fatally by security 
forces, according to witnesses, although the GOZ's official 
version had the victim "shot accidentally while trying to 
disarm military personnel."  Bennett's farm houses more than 
1,000 workers and family members and supports a host of other 
businesses and suppliers in the area.  Many workers and 
residents of the area are fiercely loyal to Bennett, an 
outspoken opposition leader who is one of three white MPs. 
Nyambuya reportedly declared publicly last month that Bennett 
would not qualify for re-election as MP for Chimanimani if he 
did not live there.   Indeed, according to Bennett's lawyers, 
the army major who led the operation and who is now occupying 
Bennett's house told farm residents that he will be the 
district's next MP. 
 
5.  (C) COMMENT: A significant financier at the center of the 
opposition's low-profile security apparatus, Bennett has long 
been the ruling party's bete noir in Manicaland.  That 
control of the militant MP's farm passed so easily after two 
years of staunch resistance bears testament to a waning 
fighting spirit even in the party's more spirited wings. 
Bennett's ejection, which reportedly was one of new Governor 
Nyambuya's principal charges on taking office, may adversely 
affect the MDC's prospects to retain his parliamentary seat 
in the generally pro-opposition province.  The passing of 
Charleswood's possession is not a watershed event so much as 
the latest manifestation of several well-established trends 
in Zimbabwe: erosion of the opposition's declining economic 
and political base by whatever force or tactics the ruling 
party deems necessary; the military's growing profile in 
ruling party machinations; and the increasing irrelevance of 
a largely impotent judiciary. 
SULLIVAN