US embassy cable - 02HARARE1943

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 001943 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR CGURNEY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/26/2012 
TAGS: PGOV, ECON, PINR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MUGABE'S CABINET RESHUFFLE REWARDS LOYALTY, NOT 
COMPETENCE 
 
REF: HARARE 1872 
 
Classified By: political section chief Matt Harrington.  Reasons: 1.5 ( 
B) and (D). 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  (C) In a long-anticipated move, President Mugabe named a 
new Cabinet on August 24 that looks very much like the old 
one, albeit with some portfolios shifted around.    Finance 
Minister Makoni and Health Minister Stamps were the only ones 
dismissed, while two new Ministers (former Ambassador to the 
U.S. and Chief Executive of the Zimbabwe Tourist Authority 
Amos Midzi and former Cabinet member Witness Mangwende) and 
six new deputy ministers were named.  Two new ministries -- 
Energy and Power Development, and Small and Medium 
Enterprises Development -- were created.  Loyalty, not 
competence, appeared to be the primary criterion for the 
personnel moves, as Mugabe and his inner circle hunker down 
in the face of increasing international and domestic 
pressure.  The new Cabinet is composed almost entirely of 
Mugabe sycophants who will continue to lead Zimbabwe in the 
same disastrous policy direction, perhaps with more zeal, and 
even worse results (if the new Finance Minister is not up to 
the task.)  Mugabe's failure to appoint two new 
Vice-Presidents, as expected, leaves observers in the dark 
for now about his retirement and succession intentions.  End 
Summary. 
 
2. (U) Those who have retained their Cabinet portfolios are 
as follows: 
 
Foreign Affairs:  Stan Mudenge 
Information and Publicity: Jonathan Moyo 
Agriculture, Lands and Resettlement: Joseph Made 
Justice, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs:  Patrick Chinamasa 
Defense: Sydney Sekeramayi 
Education, Sport, and Culture: Aeneas Chigwedere 
Environment and Tourism: Francis Nhema 
Local Government, Public Works, and National Housing: 
Ignatius Chombo 
Mines and Mining Development: Edward Chindori-Chininga 
Public Service, Labor, and Social Welfare: July Moyo 
Rural Resources and Water Development: Joyce Mujuru 
Youth Development, Gender, and Employment Creation: Elliot 
Manyika 
State Security: Nicholas Goche 
 
The remaining ministerial portfolios were distributed as 
follows: 
 
Home Affairs:  Kembo Mohadi (formerly Deputy Minister of 
Local Government) 
Finance:  Herbert Murerwa (formerly Minister of Industry and 
International Trade) 
Transport and Communications: Witness Mangwende 
Health and Child Welfare: David Parirenyatwa (formerly Deputy 
Health Minister) 
Energy and Power Development: Amos Midzi 
Small and Medium Enterprises Development: Sithembiso Nyoni 
(formerly Minister for the Informal Sector) 
Minister of State for State Enterprises and Parastatals: Paul 
Mangwana (formerly Deputy Justice Minister) 
Minister of State for Science and Technology Development: 
Olivia Muchena (formerly Minister of State in VP Msika's 
office) 
Minister of State for Land Reform: Flora Bhuka (formerly 
Minister of State in VP Muzenda's office) 
 
Six new deputy ministers were appointed: 
 
Industry and International Trade: Kenneth Manyonda 
Mines and Mining Development: Jaison Machaya 
Energy and Power Development: Reuben Marumahoko 
Local Government, Public Works, and National Housing: Chief 
Fortune Charumbira 
Rural Resources and Water Development: Tinos Rusere 
Small and Medium Scale Enterprises: Kenneth Mutiwekuziva 
 
3. (C) Brian Raftopoulos, one of Zimbabwe's most perceptive 
political analysts, described the reshuffle as a 
"consolidation of Mugabe's position."  He said it is clear 
from the personnel moves that Mugabe is "digging in his 
heels" and that we are unlikely to see any drawback from the 
GOZ's current policy direction.  Eddison Zvobgo, the 
estranged ZANU-PF politician who was expelled by Mugabe from 
the politburo in 2000 because of his willingness to stand up 
to the Zimbabwean President, described the Cabinet changes in 
less diplomatic terms in a discussion with us.  He claimed 
that every member of the new Cabinet is a "strident yes-man 
or yes-woman" for President Mugabe.  Cabinet and the ZANU-PF 
politburo, he continued, have become mere rubber stamps for 
Mugabe's decisions, and not a single member of those bodies 
is prepared to challenge the Zimbabwean President. 
 
4.  (C) Comment:  It is clear that political loyalty was the 
prime -- if not exclusive -- criterion in the re-assignment 
of ministerial portfolios.  If competence had been a 
consideration, the hapless Joseph Made, who denied until 
recently the possibility of food shortages in Zimbabwe, would 
have been forced to pack his bags, along with many of his 
colleagues.  The fact that Made and other loyal hardliners 
such as Jonathan Moyo, Patrick Chinamasa, Ignatius Chombo, 
and Elliot Manyika have been asked to stay is a clear 
indication that the GOZ is not about to undertake any major 
policy reversals.  Makoni's removal strongly suggests that 
the GOZ has no plans to infuse its economic decision-making 
with any sense of rationality.  In fact, if retread Finance 
Minister Murerwa -- who preceded and now succeeds Makoni in 
this position -- does not hold the line on fiscal restraint 
and permit the cumbersome but still functional parallel 
exchange rate system to continue, the economy could contract 
even more rapidly and hyper-inflation set in.  We interpret 
the reshuffle as a circling of the wagons, as Mugabe hunkers 
down with his most trusted subordinates in the face of 
growing international and domestic pressure.  President 
Mugabe was widely expected to appoint two new Vice-Presidents 
to replace incumbents Simon Muzenda and Joseph Msika.  The 
fact that he did not suggests that Mugabe and his inner 
circle have not yet reached any definitive conclusions about 
the issue of succession.  John Nkomo's apparent demotion from 
Home Affairs to a newly-created Minister of State for Special 
Affairs position in the President's office, when he was 
widely expected to be named Vice-President, suggests he has 
lost ground in internal succession maneuvering. 
 
5.  (C)  Comment continued:  The timing of the reshuffle 
likely was motivated in part by growing criticism that the 
old Cabinet had no legal standing because its members were 
not re-appointed after the March presidential election. 
According to the Zimbabwean constitution, the offices of 
Vice-President, Minister, and Deputy Minister become vacant 
upon the assumption of office of a new President.  Although 
the question of whether Mugabe was a "new" president appears 
open to interpretation, Mugabe likely wanted to avoid any 
related judicial challenges.  Zvobgo, who is an expert on 
constitutional law, insisted that the old Cabinet should have 
taken new oaths of office after the election, as Mugabe did. 
He informed us that the legal parliamentary committee which 
he chairs had rejected 47 decrees (statutory instruments) 
issued since the election because the ministers who signed 
them had no legal standing, and had vowed to make this an 
issue when parliament resumes sitting in late September. 
Zvobgo surmised that this is what drove Mugabe to reshuffle 
the Cabinet when he did, a move which will give the new 
Ministers sufficient time to re-issue those 47 decrees before 
Parliament reconvenes. 
 
Biographic information 
---------------------- 
 
6.   (C) Detailed biographic information on all of the new 
Cabinet members will follow septel.  In the meantime, we 
wanted to provide the following brief sketches: 
 
Simba Makoni:  Makoni had been living on borrowed time since 
Mugabe publicly criticized as "saboteurs" and "enemies of the 
state" anyone who advocated devaluation of the Zimbabwean 
dollar, a small camp of which Makoni had been the most vocal 
member.  Since his appointment in 2000, Makoni had been a 
lonely advocate within GOZ circles of rational economic 
decision-making, and Mugabe likely tired of his willingness 
to critcize -- regularly and publicly -- bad government 
decisions. 
 
Kembo Mohadi:  Mohadi has engaged in efforts to politicize 
food distribution.  As reported reftel, he told NGOs 
distributing food in Gwanda that they would have to follow 
government directives and that their equipment would be taken 
over by the GOZ.  The fact that he is now, as Minister of 
Home Affairs, in charge of Zimbabwe's police force, does not 
inspire confidence that we will soon see a return to the rule 
of law. 
 
Witness Mangwende: ZANU-PF's deputy secretary for 
administration, Mangwende has previously served in 
Ministerial positions at Foreign Affairs, Information and 
Publicity, and Land and Agriculture.  Mangwende is a 
hardliner who believes strongly in the moral rectitude of 
ZANU-PF's fast track resettlement effort.  In a June 2001 
meeting between Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa and 
incoming AF/S Director Scott Delisi, Mangwende made no 
attempt at diplomatic niceties, rudely rejecting the validity 
of U.S. interest in internal Zimbabwean developments. 
 
SULLIVAN