US embassy cable - 02HARARE1137

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001137 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER 
USDOC FOR 2037 JDIEMOND 
LONDON FOR CGURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
RIO FOR WWEISSMAN 
PASS USTR - ROSA WHITAKER 
TREASURY FOR ED BARBER AND C WILKINSON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EFIN, KCRM, PGOV, ZI 
SUBJECT: ASIAN/INDIAN COMMUNITY HAS A MUTED REACTION TO 
A ROGUE WAR VET'S THREAT OF ASSET SEIZURE 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
NOT FOR INTERNET POSTING. 
 
1.  (SBU) On April 24 the government press carried a 
statement by Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veteran's 
Association Director for Projects, Andrew Ndlovu, 
that attacked resident Indians and Asians, accusing 
them of economic sabotage, looting, and non-support of 
the Government's indigenization and redistribution 
efforts.  Ndlovu accused the long-resident communities 
(which started after WW II and swelled in the 1960's 
and 1970's) of buying large amounts of urban real 
estate in the early 1980's when the majority of whites 
left, and now charging exorbitant rents and operating 
businesses that exploit blacks, through both high 
prices and poor wages.  He declared "Operation 
Liberation," which ordered them to surrender "a certain 
portion of their land, to desist from illegal currency 
dealing on the parallel market, reduce exorbitant 
rentals, bank their money in locally-owned banks, and 
improve the wages and working conditions of their 
workers.  Nothing will stop us from reclaiming 
commercial land which is also our birthright, and all 
barriers of imperialism will be removed forcefully," 
Ndlovu proclaimed. 
 
2.  (SBU) Two days later on April 26, in an obvious 
display of a lack of coordination and command, the 
Association's Acting Chairman, Patrick Nyaruwata, 
declared that members of the Asian and Indian community 
should ignore Ndlovu's threats and ultimatums, and that 
it was wrong for Ndlovu to assume that community 
members were part of the colonialists.  "The Asians 
also suffered during the years of oppression as they 
were treated like second-class citizens together with 
blacks.  The Indian community has been with us since 
the early years of the struggle, and most of them 
supported us during the formation of ZANU and ZAPU and 
so it is not fair to condemn them when they have been 
partners."   Ndlovu's muttered response during a radio 
interview later that day was that the Chairman had 
apparently been bribed, and on April 29 the veterans 
association held a meeting with representatives from 
the Indian community to again reassure them of their 
common cause and linked patriotism.  Ndlovu, who was 
directed to attend the pow-wow, only made utterances on 
the war vets' role in the redistribution of farming 
land, and withheld further comments on his thwarted 
urban ambitions. 
 
3.  (SBU) Mission Econ and Commercial officers have 
informally contacted representatives in the Asian and 
Indian business communities and have been told that 
their concern level is not particularly high.  An 
Indian who heads up the major Mitsubishi auto 
dealership here said that he has too many ZANU-PF 
customers to get concerned, and is much more worried 
about inflation, the parallel market rate and the food 
shortage.  Most of the others we contacted view the 
situation pragmatically, and one said that if it means 
the handout of a couple of free cell phones a month - 
well, it's just another cost of doing business. 
Another said that they (the Indians) have friends and 
contacts in many places and that Ndlovu is clearly in 
over his head.  "The troubles that we face in Zimbabwe 
are much less so than in much of the rest of Africa, 
and while the whites are still here we can carry on. 
When they are all gone we may have to make different 
arrangements, but for now we shall continue to operate 
our businesses.  Ndlovu has been told to drop the 
matter, and if he has any brains will do as he is 
told." 
 
4.  (SBU) Comment: Pragmatism and a degree of 
plasticity regarding business and operating rules has 
allowed both the Asian and Indian communities to sail 
relatively unscathed to date through this latest, low- 
level attempt at rolling out a variant of the ruling 
party's indigenization program.  Both communities have 
been on the ground for a long time and seem to realize 
when legal principles can be relied on and when other 
operating methods may be more productive.  For now at 
least, it seems that someone in government has weighed 
the costs and benefits of targeting Asian or Indian 
assets, and decided to move on in search of an easier 
score.  In addition, the War Vets Association has been 
beset by internal power squabbles, and Ndlovu was 
probably trying to get his name in the papers and 
burnish his "revolutionary" credentials ahead of the 
war vets' congress later this year. 
 
5. (SBU) It is noteworthy that the GOZ never took a 
position on the war vet threat, but let the war vet 
leader put down his subordinate.  A different 
interpretation of events would be that the Indian/Asian 
community was warned to provide more "kickbacks" and 
will duly comply or suffer the consequences. 
 
6. (SBU) For what it's worth, the Indian High 
Commissioner told the Ambassador that no one in the 
Indian community here had raise the issue with him, nor 
he with the GOZ, indicating that Ndlovu's bluster is 
probably not a major preoccupation within Asian/Indian 
circles.  End Comment. 
 
Sullivan