US embassy cable - 05HARARE141

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000141 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVELLE, D. TEITELBAUM 
AF/S FOR D. MOZENA, B. NEULING 
 
E.  O.  12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, ZI 
SUBJECT:   NEW ELECTORAL COMMISSION APPOINTED 
 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: The GOZ last week announced the 
appointment of the Zimbabwe Election Commission, a new 
institution with potentially important responsibilities in 
the conduct of the March parliamentary elections.  Its 
composition was worked out in consultation with the 
opposition MDC, which has grudgingly accepted it despite 
reservations about its chairman.  The Commission is not 
likely to make a decisive difference in leveling the 
election playing field here. END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) On January 21, the state media reported that 
President Mugabe had appointed members of the Zimbabwe 
Electoral Commission (ZEC).  Establishment of the 
Commission, which is charged under the new Election 
Commission Act to run certain aspects of the elections in 
March, follows consultations with the Judicial Services 
Commission and the Parliamentary Legal Committee, the latter 
of which includes representatives of the opposition MDC 
party.  Mugabe appointed High Court Judge Justice George 
Mutandwa Chiweshe, a war veteran and former judge in the 
military court, to chair the Commission.  Other 
Commissioners include Sarah Letty Kachingwe, Chairperson of 
the Zimbabwe Chapter of the African Women Educationalists 
and member of the Constitutional Commission in 1999; Vivian 
Stella Ncube, former chairperson for National Association of 
NGOs (Western Region) Women's Forum; Professor George Payne 
Kahari, former Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University 
of Zimbabwe and former ambassador to West Germany; and 
Reverend Jonathan Siyachitema, former Bishop of the Anglican 
church.  Mugabe also named attorney Theophilus Gambe to 
replace Gula Ndebele, who was named Attorney General, as 
head of the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC). 
 
3. (U) The Act prescribes that the Commission's 
responsibilities will include, among other things, direction 
of voter registration, compilation and maintenance of 
voters' rolls, operation of polling centers, and voter 
education.  (Note: Some of these functions would appear to 
conflict or overlap with those of the Registrar-General and 
the ESC, a constitutionally mandated relatively toothless 
body that oversaw the last election.  End note.) 
 
4.  (U) In an e-mail circulated to the diplomatic community 
on January 21, the MDC welcomed the establishment of the 
Commission and the naming of commissioners Kachingwe, 
Siyatchetema, Ncube and Kahare.  It reported that the four 
were the "result of a consensus" between the MDC and ZANU-PF 
in the Standing Rules and Orders Committee of Parliament. 
The missive expressed "serious reservations" about Chairman 
Chiweshe stemming from his past handling of cases involving 
MDC members, but declared that the party "is prepared and 
will give him the benefit of the doubt."  Senior MDC 
officials and prominent civil society figures publicly 
voiced skepticism about the commission but did not reject it 
outright. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
5.  (SBU) Many have regarded the establishment of an 
independent election commission as a litmus test of the 
GOZ's commitment to implement the SADC election principles. 
This new commission -- composed with significant input from 
the opposition and operating under an Act that only allows 
removal of a commissioner for cause -- could be capable of 
making a constructive contribution to the election process 
if permitted to do so.  All but Ncube have some past ties to 
the ruling party but most are well-respected.  However, as 
with so many other GOZ institutions, there is plenty of room 
for decisive ruling party pressure to be applied against 
individual commissioners.  The Commission's operations also 
will likely be hampered by apparent overlaps in 
responsibility with the ESC and Registrar-General.  More 
critically, it remains to be seen the extent to which the 
Commission is given actual authority and enforcement 
capacity to change fundamental "environmental" factors 
effectively under the control of the GOZ, e.g., campaign 
space, broadcast access, suppression of political violence. 
In sum, the commission's significance will lie more in the 
unfolding of its conduct during the coming months than in 
the identity of the members. 
 
6.  (SBU) The MDC's grudging acceptance of the Commission is 
further evidence that it intends to rejoin the parliamentary 
race in spite of a playing field still tilted against it. 
In playing to diverse domestic and international audiences, 
it is likely to continue public criticism of the election 
environment and selected GOZ measures, even as it 
acknowledges some progress by the GOZ and negotiates quietly 
with the ruling party.  From the ruling party's perspective, 
the composition of the ZEC is consistent with its own 
posturing to international galleries - the next in a series 
of incremental steps to superficially address well-known 
electoral imbalances without sacrificing decisive control 
over the election's outcome.