US embassy cable - 04HARARE2035

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 002035 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR BNEULING 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE, D. TEITELBAUM 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2009 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, ZI, MDC 
SUBJECT: COMMISSION APPOINTED TO RUN HARARE 
 
REF: HARARE 680 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Christopher W. Dell under Section 1.5 b/d 
 
1. (C)  SUMMARY:  In a clear--and possibly illegal--power 
grab, the GOZ appointed a commission December 9 to run the 
City of Harare, replacing the Harare City Council.  The 
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had dominated 
the Council until earlier this year when the GOZ engineered 
the dismissal of 19 MDC councilors and the remaining 16 MDC 
councilors subsequently resigned.  The MDC does not plan to 
fight the commission,s establishment, but the Chairman of 
the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) told us his 
organization would mount a court challenge, though with 
little hope of success.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (SBU)  On December 9, the Minister of Local Government, 
Ignatius Chombo, appointed an eight-member commission to run 
the city of Harare.  Acting Mayor Sekesayi Makwavarara, who 
was elected to the Council as a member of the opposition 
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) but later switched to 
ZANU-PF, is to lead the commission.  Chombo appointed the 
remaining members of the commission from the private sector; 
all have government ties.  The eight ZANU-PF members of the 
city council will continue to work with the commission, but 
their exact role is unclear. The commission is to run the 
city for the next 24 months.   Chombo gave no rationale for 
the specific time period, which exceeds the six month maximum 
a commission may run any city according to the Urban Councils 
Act, but he had previously stated that council elections 
would be held again in June 2006. 
 
3. (SBU)  Harare City Council has not had a quorum for 
months.  Chombo fired MDC Mayor Elias Mudzuri in April on 
specious grounds, ostensibly for abuse of power and failure 
to cooperate with the GOZ (reftel).  Following that, Chombo 
dismissed 19 MDC councilors for ineffectiveness and failure 
to work in the interests of their constituents.  In August, 
the remaining 16 MDC councilors resigned to protest the 
Ministry,s interference with council operations and the lack 
of a legally required mayoral election within 90 days after 
Mudzuri,s dismissal.  Throughout the year, the state-run 
Herald newspaper has run numerous articles berating the 
Council for its dwindling services and corruption and setting 
the stage for establishment of the commission.  MDC Director 
of Presidential Affairs, Gandhi Mudzingwa, told Poloff 
December 13 that the MDC did not plan any action and would 
not issue a statement regarding the formation of the 
commission. 
 
4. (C)  On December 13, CHRA chairperson Mike Davies told 
Poloff that the organization planned to challenge the 
legality of the commission.  CHRA believes certain aspects of 
the commission are illegal under the Urban Councils Act: 
ZANU-PF city council members should not be allowed to retain 
their positions once the commission is constituted, and the 
commission can govern the city no more than six months, a 
provision of the Urban Councils Act upheld by the courts in a 
CHRA challenge to an earlier commission.  Davies said he did 
not have much hope for a positive outcome on these two 
challenges.  Even if the courts ruled in CHRA,s favor, 
Chombo would likely ignore the rulings.  Davies said CHRA 
also had a pending suit challenging the failure of the 
Ministry to hold an election to replace former mayor Mudzuri. 
 However, CHRA,s lawyers had advised him that the 
appointment of the commission obviated the need for a mayoral 
election and the suit was likely to die.  Davies said CHRA 
was pressing the suits to &maintain the moral high ground8 
and that the situation in Harare was not likely to improve 
until the national crisis was resolved and new legislation 
passed.  Under the Urban Councils Act the Minister of Local 
Government could &do as he pleases8 regardless of specific 
provisions in the remainder of the Act. 
 
5. (C)  COMMENT:  The MDC counts on its urban base, and its 
control of the majority of Zimbabwe,s city councils and 
mayorships had been viewed as an opportunity to exert 
executive authority and show people it can deliver goods and 
services.  All of these local governments, however, have 
faced harassment and obstruction by the local ZANU-PF 
structures and the Ministry of Local Government, whose 
highest priority appears to be assuring that MDC local 
municipal authorities are seen to fail.  The Harare City 
Council is the most prominent of the local governments won by 
the MDC but the party has been unable or unwilling to commit 
significant resources or decisive pressure in defense of the 
Council or Mayor Mudzuri, a strong personality who has had 
differences with many in the MDC leadership.  The MDC has 
also failed to creatively counter the GOZ,s pressure and 
effectively protect the other local governments it has 
controlled.  Instead, the MDC has allowed itself to be fully 
absorbed by election contests, parliamentary politics and 
other nationally-oriented efforts--strategies that have left 
once promising municipal authorities to slowly wither. 
DELL