US embassy cable - 05HARARE831

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000831 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
AF FOR DAS T. WOODS 
AF/S FOR B. NEULING 
OVP FOR NULAND 
NSC FOR DNSA ABRAMS, SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2010 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, PINR, ZI, Other Political Parties, Economic Situation 
SUBJECT: MODEST STAY-AWAY RESULTS CHALLENGE BROAD ALLIANCE 
 
Classified By: Charge d' Affaires a.i. under Section 1.4 b/d 
 
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Summary 
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1.  (C) The NCA,s Lovemore Madukhu, organizer of last 
week,s stayaway action, called it a limited success. 
However, Madhuku acknowledged that poor organization and 
communications had hampered the effort.  Other opposition 
leaders were less charitable.  While some alliance members 
felt slighted in the planning stages, others questioned the 
efficacy of stayaways in general.  None of the alliance 
members discussed specific plans to initiate any mass action 
in the coming week.  End Summary. 
 
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NCA: More Protests Coming 
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2. (C) Lovemore Madhuku of the National Constitutional 
Assembly (NCA) told PolOff on June 13 that the stay away had 
been partially successful and that the Broad Alliance would 
engage in more active protests in the coming weeks, although 
nothing was planned for this week.  Madhuku said he would not 
know further details of planned protests until after 
consulting with other opposition leaders. 
 
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MDC: More Meetings Coming 
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3.  (C) Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Secretary for 
Presidential Affairs Gandhi Mudzingwa told PolOff on June 14 
that the MDC did not regard the stay away as a success.  He 
said many in the party were critical of Madhuku for not 
having better organized the action and felt that only the MDC 
could truly lead such an effort.  Mudzingwa said the MDC 
planned no mass actions were for this week, nor did he know 
of any other organization planning such activities.  The 
party leadership did plan to meet its Broad Alliance partners 
on June 21 to assess the situation and strategize.  He 
expected the party would push for tactics of broad localized 
resistance in the coming months. 
 
4. (C) Mudzingwa said the failure of the stay away was the 
latest evidence that such new methods of resistance were 
needed.  To that end, the party had formed a Democratic 
Resistance Committee to move its focus from a democratic 
political party to a democratic resistance movement.  The MDC 
leadership would discuss this and other issues at a Bulawayo 
retreat on June 16.  When asked about whether the MDC would 
apply its new tactics in response to Operation Restore Order, 
Mudzingwa said the MDC had chosen not to spearhead a direct 
response.  Diverting party attention to the operation would 
"distract" it from the larger agenda. 
 
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ZCTU: Inactive and Left Out 
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5. (C) On June 13, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) 
Information Officer Mlamleli Sibanda told PolOff that the 
recent stayaway action had a poor response due to bad 
organization and lack of consultation among Broad Alliance 
partners, like the ZCTU.  Sibanda intimated that the ZCTU was 
more concerned about fostering consensus in its General 
Council than with planning stayaway follow-on actions for now 
in any event.  (N.B. Key ZCTU players were in Geneva for ILO 
meetings during the run-up to the stay-away.) 
 
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CHRA: Skeptical of Broad Alliance's Capacity 
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6. (C) Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) Chairman 
Mike Davies said the stayaway was not a failure but 
recognized that organization and communications problems 
existed.  He told PolOff on June 13 that the opposition must 
better harness the population,s anger, and suggested the 
establishment of &a shadow government outside of the 
occupied state8 with regional and international support. 
Davies added that a significant obstacle for the opposition 
is the fact that many of the educated middle-class people who 
would normally have protested have left the country. 
 
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Comment 
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7. (C) Most of the opposition sat on their hands last week 
and yet have chosen to blame Madhuku for the failure of the 
stay away ) the first real action by the opposition since 
the March election.  This apparent lack of solidarity 
suggests we may be in for an extended period of relative 
inaction by the opposition, an unfortunate response to rising 
government repression. 
SCHULTZ