US embassy cable - 04HARARE1112

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001112 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR LAROIAN, MRAYNOR 
AF/PD FOR D. FOLEY, C. DALTON 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVELLE, D. TEITELBAUM 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2009 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINR, ZI, MDC, ZANU-PF 
SUBJECT: ATTACK ON MDC PROVINCIAL MEETING 
 
REF: HARARE 1067 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Bianca Menendez for reason 1.5 d 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY.  ZANU-PF youths on July 2 attacked an MDC 
provincial assembly attended by several MDC leaders, 
including Morgan Tsvangirai, in Mashonaland Central. The 
youths destroyed property and injured MDC supporters. Police 
blamed the incident on MDC members, while MDC leaders believe 
the CIO masterminded the attack. END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) The attack occurred in Mvurwi, at the end of an MDC 
provincial assembly meeting, according to MDC Secretary 
General Welshman Ncube. Ncube said at the meeting were party 
leaders from Harare, some MPs, and party members from around 
the province. According to MDC spokesman Nkanyiso Maqeda, 
party members included district and ward representatives and 
supporters from around the province who came by bus to 
attend. 
 
3. (C) According to MDC Secretary of Mashonaland Central, 
Shepherd Mushonga, who was at the meeting, two two-ton trucks 
and two smaller trucks of  ZANU-PF youths arrived at the 
meeting, being held at the property of Biggie Chigonera, MDC 
Vice Chairman in Mashonaland Central. Mushonga said the 
youths, who numbered about 150-200, threw stones and attacked 
people with iron bars then burned down buildings and 
automobiles on Chigonera,s complex, including his residence 
and a garage. 
 
4. (C) Mushonga said that the MDC applied for and received 
permission from the police to hold the meeting but that the 
police did not provide guards, as they should have. He said 
this was an indication that the police knew the attack would 
happen. He said members of the CIO were visible in the 
vicinity and that he believed they had probably masterminded 
the attack. 
 
5. (C) According to William Bango, personal assistant to 
Morgan Tsvangirai, local ZANU-PF elements are trying to 
locate citizens who were at the meeting. Maqeda said he heard 
that two trucks of youths were driving around the province 
Sunday looking for meeting attendees and threatening them. 
Mushonga said that ZANU-PF youths were also threatening 
Chigonera, who was still at his property where the youths 
were demonstrating and chanting outside his home. Mushonga 
said the police have done nothing to investigate the attack. 
 
6. (U) According to the government-controlled Herald 
newspaper, police spokesman Mandipaka said MDC youths 
provoked ZANU-PF youths by throwing tear gas at them as a 
ZANU-PF youth convoy approached the meeting, characterized by 
the Herald as an MDC rally.  According to the Herald, police 
denied anyone was injured. 
 
7. (C) Ncube said that all the Harare party leaders, 
including Morgan Tsvangirai, were unharmed and returned 
safely to Harare. Maqeda said that there were five confirmed 
injured, including Samuel Mapingure, the driver of 
Chitungwiza MP Fidelis Mhashu. Maqeda said the MDC believed 
many others had been injured but that they were among those 
who had come by bus from the countryside and that they had 
all fled after the attack. 
 
8. (C) COMMENT: This incident is another example of a 
long-standing pattern of the GOZ preventing the MDC from 
holding meetings and rallies, particularly in rural areas 
regarded by the ruling party as its base.  (Mvurwi is a small 
town in the midst of a former commercial farming area.) 
Government officials allowed the meeting to be planned and 
held, perhaps in an attempt to identify supporters, then 
sponsored or at a minimum allowed an attack on the event. 
Continued GOZ suppression of opposition campaign efforts and 
freedom of assembly offers context for ongoing ruling party 
efforts to initiate electoral reforms (reftel): such efforts 
will revolve around changes in the letter of the law, but do 
little if anything to address deep imbalances in Zimbabwe's 
election environment. 
 
9. (C) COMMENT (CONT'D): The incident nonetheless represents 
a potentially morale-boosting victory of sorts for the MDC in 
the battle for hearts and minds in the run-up to national 
parliamentary elections scheduled for March.   The clash in 
ZANU-PF's heartland will raise a question in even the most 
uncritical readers of the official press's stilted accounts: 
how could the MDC have been holding a provincial assembly 
meeting in a zone regarded by most Zimbabweans as a ruling 
party-enforced "no-go" area -- one in which the opposition 
lacked any meaningful presence? 
SULLIVAN