US embassy cable - 04HARARE1179

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001179 
 
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 
DS/OP/AF 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2009 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, ZI 
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT PRESSES WOMEN'S ACTIVIST GROUP 
 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Bianca Menendez for reason 1.5 d 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY. Members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise! (WOZA), a 
group that demonstrates against human rights abuses and 
particularly against the Public Order and Security Act 
(POSA), are on trial for violating POSA. The trial was 
continued after two successive court dates in June for lack 
of a magistrate, reportedly because no magistrate wished to 
go on record as either convicting or acquitting these vocal 
activitists. On July 12, a magistrate appeared but continued 
the trial to August 19 to give the state more time to prepare 
its case. The advocate for the group had a positive outlook 
on the case. END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) 48 women are on trial in Bulawayo for participating in 
a demonstration against POSA on July 24, 2003. According to 
the outline of the state,s case, they have been charged 
under POSA for failing to notify the regulating authority 
that the demonstration would take place. Although members of 
the group have been arrested several times, this will be the 
first time a trial will actually take place. According to 
group founder Jenni Williams, who is included among the 
accused, after past arrests all charges have been dropped. 
The maximum possible sentence under the current charge is a 
fine of 50,000 Zimbabwean dollars (about 9 US dollars) and 10 
years in prison. 
 
3. (C) An advocate from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, 
Perpetua Dube, is representing the women. According to Dube, 
no magistrate wants to hear this case because putting dozens 
of women in jail would not be seemly but neither does any 
magistrate want to be seen as being lenient toward a group 
that is so critical of the government. Dube said that the 
state was attempting to separate Williams,s case from that 
of the other women and dropping the latter case to avoid the 
embarrassment of trying all the women together. Dube also 
said she believed that imprisoning Williams was seen as the 
key to disabling the organization because she is the chief 
organizer of a group of largely rural women with few 
resources. 
 
4. (C) On July 12th, the trial began with Magistrate John 
Masimba presiding. One of the key points in the defense 
outline was that the state charged the women under the wrong 
section of POSA. According to Williams, the magistrate was 
curt with the prosecutor over a failure to submit a new state 
outline with the correct charge but said that he did not want 
to throw the case out on a technicality. He continued the 
trial to August 19 to give the state time to prepare a new 
outline.  Williams said that, based on comments made by the 
magistrate, Dube believes either the case will be dismissed 
or the women will be acquitted. The magistrate dismissed a 
second and more serious charge that had been filed against 
only Williams, for organizing an illegal event. 
 
5. (C) Also on July 12, the police raided WOZA,s safe house 
in Bulawayo and took some promotional items. The house,s 
caretaker had disappeared, but Williams said it was possible 
the caretaker was hiding from the police. 
 
6. (C) COMMENT:  A long, drawn out trial and raids on office 
space are typical intimidation tactics used by the government 
against organizations like WOZA that are seen as enemies of 
the state. The organization enjoys a broad membership base, 
but it is vulnerable due to the thinness of energetic 
leadership and limited monetary and organizational resources 
to further the group,s aims. If the government succeeds in 
curtailing the activities of Williams or other key members, 
WOZA,s activis