US embassy cable - 02HARARE1463

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001463 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/FO AND AF/S; NSC FOR SR DIR JENDAYI FRAZER, 
AID FOR AFR; 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2012 
TAGS: PGOV, EAID, ZI 
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION MAYORS OF HARARE AND CHITUNGWIZA FACE 
GOZ OBSTACLES 
 
 
Classified By: JOSEPH G. SULLIVAN FOR REASONS 1.5B/D 
 
1.(C) Summary:  The Ambassador met separately the week of 
June 10 with MDC Mayors of Harare and Chitungwiza.  Their 
styles could not be more different. Harare Mayor Mudzuri 
served as chief city engineer and won a contentious and 
flashy campaign for the MDC mayoral nomination, while 
Chitungwiza Mayor Misheck Shoko is a soft-spoken former 
school headmaster with war-veteran credentials and a 
pragmatic bent. Both are hamstrung by Local Government 
Minister Ignatius Chombo, who has substantial authority and 
motive to make their jobs difficult.  While both are 
bedeviled by staffs chosen by ZANU-PF predecessors whom 
Chombo has intervened to protect, while Chitungwiza is 
additionally handicapped by a town council dominated by 
ZANU-PF(since only Harare had simultaneous Council elections. 
 Both mayors recognized, however, that no excuses will make 
up for failure to deliver for their residents.  Harare, in 
particular, with a substantial revenue base and succeeding a 
corrupt and ineffective interim city management, has stepped 
out smartly to repair streets and public works. We will be 
looking at ways that we can help these new administrations 
get off to a good start.  End Summary 
 
2. (C) Harare Mayor Mudzuri beat out the Chairman of the 
Combined Harare Residents' Association (CHRA) David Samudzimi 
for the MDC mayoral nomination, reportedly by doing politics 
the "old-fashioned way" through free lunches and beers. 
Mudziri also got off on the wrong foot with some in CHRA and 
the MDC by taking possession of the mayoral Mercedes and 
moving into the guest house of a lavish mayoral mansion built 
by the previous regime. (Minister Chombo was only too happy 
to fuel this dispute by requiring that the Mayor occupy the 
mansion rather than sell it off.)  Public criticism of the 
Mayor for "intolerable acquiescence to the Minister's 
dictates" by new CHRA Acting Director Mike Davies brought the 
disputes among the opposition into embarrassing public light. 
 Subsequently, the MDC and Mayor Mudziri have worked hard to 
repair the damage and present a united fight, both 
recognizing that Chombo will do nothing to help the Harare 
city administration and will take full profit from MDC 
disunity. 
 
3. (c) During his meeting with the Ambassador, Mudziri 
complained that Minister Chombo had reversed virtually all 
the terminations of eleventh-hour ZANU-PF appointments, 
including that of notorious war veteran leader Joseph 
Chinotimba as a city security officer.  Chombo has directed 
that all personnel and financial decisions by the city be 
referred to him.  Mudzuri noted that even the City Council's 
sacking of a high-ranking ZANU-PF official as the city's 
recently appointed public relations director awaited Chombo's 
approval.  Mudzuri told the Ambassador that the law was 
unfortunately on Chombo's side and there was little point 
fighting in court.  Instead, he would act in every area 
possible without asking permission.  For example, the Mayor 
intended to carry out an audit of city accounts by 
Price-Waterhouse for 2.5 million Zimdollars(about 500 
thousand US dollars at the official rate). Mudziri said that 
he stated that he had good relations with citizens' groups 
and that he was also seeking to repair his relations with the 
CHRA, although there were still some difficulties.  He also 
said that he was focusing on long-neglected public works and 
street repairs in these early months in order to show the 
citizenry that he was working in their interests.  He 
expressed interest in training opportunities for city 
officials and councilors and in reviving a dormant 
relationship with Harare's sister city of Cincinnati. 
 
4,(c) Chitungwiza Mayor Shoko has gotten off to a better 
start with civil society by meeting with them early on.  His 
inherited city council, however, is dominated by ZANU-PF war 
veterans and have stormily opposed most of his initiatives, 
including the concept of consultation with residents.  The 
Mayor told the Ambassador that the only gesture of 
conciliation offered by his Councilors was an offer to cut 
him in on a mutual distribution of commercial plots to be 
operated or sold by the Mayor and Councilors.  His rejection 
of the offer and the scheme won him no friends in the 
Council.  Shoko also complained that he has no employees of 
confidence in his administration, including his security.  As 
an ex war veteran himself, Shoko said that he was dealing 
with his political problems in a personal way without backing 
down.  He is also hamstrung by Minister Chombo, who recently 
overruled Shoko's efforts to dismiss those city councilors 
who had violated rules against missing more than two 
consecutive council meetings.  Shoko was also anxious to 
cooperate with us in addressing his high density suburb's 
myriad problems. 
 
5. (c) Comment:  These two mayors have assumed challenging 
tasks at a time when the country's economy is collapsing. 
They will get no favors and only obstruction from Minister 
Chombo.  But as the MDC seeks to show it is more than an 
opposition party, how it does in these highly visible posts 
takes on added importance.  We will work with these two 
newcomers to see how we might help them within the context of 
our pilot programs on local government. 
SULLIVAN