US embassy cable - 04HARARE1435

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001435 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR B. NEULING 
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: 08/26/2009 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, ZI 
SUBJECT: "FIRST BOYFRIEND" RELEASED 
 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Win Dayton under Section 1.5 b/d 
 
1.  (SBU) The GOZ released Politburo member and prominent 
businessperson James Makamba from remand prison on August 24. 
 Makamba had been incarcerated since January on charges 
relating to currency externalization, but was widely reputed 
to have been put away for cuckolding the President.  Regional 
media coverage had been alluding increasingly to his putative 
affair with the First Lady. 
 
2.  (C) Makamba family sources (Makamba is the uncle of an 
FSN's spouse) confided that retired General and ZANU-PF 
heavyweight Solomon Mujuru had weighed in heavily on 
Makamba's behalf over the past few months.  According to the 
family, first Lady Grace also had called Makamba's wife 
repeatedly to apologize of late.  Makamba had been held in 
apalling conditions in remand prison, forced to endure 
repeated exercises while naked and other circumstances he was 
unwilling to discuss.  He had regular close contact with 
prominent fellow inmates Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri 
(characterized as a "suicide candidate") and recently 
released safari magnate Emmanuel Fundira (also jailed for 
currency externalization).  The family is concerned that 
Makamba may yet be re-arrested. 
 
3.  (C) COMMENT: The Makamba affair may not have played out 
fully but already offers some lessons.  First, the ruling 
party can be even more heavy handed on its own than it is on 
its critics -- Makamba and Kuruneri have been in jail far 
longer than any opposition figure.  The saga also indicates 
the extent to which the ruling party is wrapped around the 
axle over non-substantive personal rivalries -- Makamba's 
fate has absorbed far more attention from the state media and 
party's upper echelons than have many of the country's myriad 
real policy challenges.  It further indicates the publicly 
invisible Mujuru's continuing influence, although the 
objectives of its exercise in this case are unclear.  And 
although the media's growing flirtation with the lurid may 
have impelled Mugabe's late lenience, the theme of 
forgiveness and re-inclusion with diminished status is 
consistent with Mugabe's rhetoric and -- depending on 
political expedience -- historical behavior.  And a lesson 
last but not least: don't fuss with the First Lady. 
Schultz