US embassy cable - 05HARARE250

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000250 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR BNEULING 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2010 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, ZI, MDC 
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION BESET BY FACTIONALISM 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Christopher W. Dell under Section 1.4 b/d 
 
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION BESET BY FACTIONALISM 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY: At a February 9 breakfast with the 
Ambassador, MDC MP for Masvingo Central Silas Mangono gave an 
account of the February 8 intra-party violence and his ouster 
as MDC candidate for his current seat in the upcoming 
election.  According to Mangono, his supporters were 
unsuccessfully petitioning to see Party President Morgan 
Tsvangirai during a party rally in Masvingo when forces loyal 
 
SIPDIS 
to Tsvangirai attacked them.  Mangono attributed his ouster 
to rumors that he supported a faction seeking to replace 
Tsvangirai with Secretary-General Ncube - Several other MDC 
 
SIPDIS 
candidates who lost out in intra-party selection processes 
are pursuing internal party appeals and reportedly have 
threatened to disrupt the party's campaign if unsuccessful. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
----------------- 
Spurned MP's Tale 
----------------- 
 
2.  (C) Mangono told the Ambassador that his supporters had 
gathered February 11 at the Masvingo Civic Center to seek an 
audience with Tsvangirai, who was conducting party meetings 
there.  The supporters staged a &mini-demonstration8, with 
placards demanding &free and fair elections8 in the wake of 
a party candidate selection process that replaced Mangono as 
the MDC candidate for his seat with a political rival of his, 
Tongai Matutu.  Mangono asserted that Tsvangirai refused to 
meet them and set his bodyguards on the group while he 
slipped out a back entrance.  According to Mangono, the 
bodyguards wielded logs and threw rocks at the crowd, 
resulting in numerous injuries, including a broken arm and 
dislodged teeth. 
 
3.  (C) According to Mangono, the friction stemmed from the 
non-transparent and heavy-handed way in which Tsvangirai, who 
is also the party's campaign coordinator for Masvingo, 
engineered the selection of Matutu.  Mangono alleged that 
Tsvangirai convened a meeting of the provincial executive on 
 
SIPDIS 
January 16 with no announced agenda and with notice to only 
one faction.  The meeting was effectively a primary that 
selected Matutu.  Mangono complained about the procedural 
irregularities and walked out.  He said he then appealed, and 
was told that Tsvangirai would look into the matter.  The 
National Council subsequently took note of the problems and 
commissioned an investigation, which had yet to produce any 
conclusions. 
 
4.  (C) Mangono said that the party had overcome the problem 
of voter apathy in Masvingo but that this fiasco would cost 
the MDC votes in his district in next month's election.  He 
said most posts held in the district were loyal to him, as 
was the business community and local rank-and-file.  On the 
Ambassador's inquiry as to the reason for his purported 
exclusion, Mangono asserted that Tsvangirai never told him. 
He said he had heard from others in the party that Tsvangirai 
believed Mangono was working with a faction to supplant 
Tsvangirai with MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube. 
 
SIPDIS 
Mangono claimed that the source of intra-party tensions was a 
continuing power struggle between Tsvangirai and Ncube. 
 
------------------------- 
Supports Election Boycott 
------------------------- 
 
5.  (C) Mangono maintained that in spite of popular support 
for democracy, Zimbabwe lacked sufficiently rooted democratic 
institutions to support an effectively functioning democracy. 
 He said he had come around to National Constitutional 
Assembly President Lovemore Madhuku's view that democratic 
elements should not participate in the political process 
until a new constitution was adopted.  The former teacher 
maintained that each party had powerful people who viewed 
themselves as above the law.  In closing, he warned that, 
despite its democratic roots, the MDC may be prone to the 
same kind of anti-democratic behavior characteristic of the 
current regime should it ever take power. 
 
--------------------------- 
Other Candidacies Contested 
--------------------------- 
 
6.  (C) The semi-independent Daily Mirror newspaper on 
February 15 reported that three other sitting MDC MPs who 
lost their seats ) Justin Mutendadzamera (Mabvuku), Dunmore 
Makuwaza (Mbare East), Tichaona Munyanyi (Mbare West) ) were 
contesting their exclusion and had pledged to "de-campaign" 
for the opposition if they were not satisfied.  MDC Secretary 
for International Affairs Pauline Mpariwa Gwanyanya confirmed 
to poloff on February 15 that several sitting MPs were 
appealing their losses and that the party would complete the 
appeals process by the end of the month.  She asserted that 
all would receive fair hearings and the party would put the 
rancor behind it quickly. 
 
------ 
Comment 
------ 
 
7.  (C) Complaints within the opposition of Tsvangirai's 
heavy-handedness and non-transparency are not new ) many 
analysts, for example, attributed the party's loss of its 
traditional stronghold Zengeza seat in a by-election last 
year in part to the party leadership's overruling local 
structures' preference for a popular local candidate.  The 
opposition's intra-party squabbles do not rise to the level 
of divisiveness seen in the ruling party of late but, with 
the elections just six weeks off, come at a particularly 
inopportune time.  The party's twice-postponed national 
campaign launch remains uncertain, projecting an air of 
disarray.  (Note: In contrast, ZANU-PF conducted a 
well-organized, once-delayed campaign launch on February 11. 
End note.)  We doubt the significance of a purported 
Tsvangirai-Ncube rift, rumors of which have been fanned by 
 
SIPDIS 
the official press for more than a year and are occasionally 
alluded to by some MDC members. 
DELL