US embassy cable - 02HARARE2574

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 002574 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR AF/FO KANSTEINER AND BELLAMY AND AF/S 
NSC FOR SR AFRICA DIR JENDAYII FRAZER 
AID FOR AFRICA A/A NEWMAN 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2007 
TAGS: PGOV, ZI, SF, Zimbabwe South African Relations 
SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICAN VIEW OF ITS BILATERAL COMMISSION 
MEETING WITH ZIMBABWE 
 
REF: HARARE 2560 
 
Classified By: JGSULLIVAN FOR REASONS 1.5B/D 
 
1.(C) Summary: South African High Commissioner Ndou told the 
Ambassador Nov 19 that the Nov 10-11 Zimbabwean-South African 
Bilateral Commission had focused principally on economic and 
technical issues.  He took some comfort in the Zimbabwean 
Government delegation's readiness to acknowledge their 
profound needs and said that SAG would engage on many of 
these without providing serious subsidies or cash. On 
political issues, the GOZ confined itself to asking the SAG 
to help repair its relations with the UK and US, while 
sticking to the hollow argument that it cannot dialogue with 
the MDC so long as the MDC maintains its suit to overturn 
presidential election results.  Apparently, the SAG did not 
push the issue. End Summary 
 
2. (C) SAG HC Ndou, who participated in the Nov 10-11 
Bilateral Commission meeting told the Ambassador that the 
meeting had focused largely on technical and economic issues, 
discussed at a Ministerial level.  For example, the GOZ 
acknowledged its acute shortage of seeds and other farm 
inputs-- SAG will seek to help through discount offers of 
seeds, but this will be far short of needs. ESKOM will also 
study the Hwange, Zimbabwe power plant with a view of 
improving regional power capacity, but will only be providing 
energy that Zimbabwe can pay for.  Similarly, SASOL will only 
maintain its current agreement with NOCZIM, which provides 
for SASOL to provide fuel only after receiving Zim payment. 
 
3.(C) On food, the SAG committed to help Zimbabwe within the 
limits of the food pledge made to the entire South African 
region for which Malawi and other countries are also 
competing.  Asked whether food for Zimbabwe would go to the 
World Food Program or the GOZ for distribution, Ndou 
suggested that South Africa's contribution might be divided 
between the two. The Ambassador suggested that providing food 
directly to the GOZ would be problematic, given GOZ 
politicization of food under its control.  Ndou noted that 
Foreign Minister Mudenge had claimed to FM Zuma that the 
WFP's suspension of food deliveries to Insiza were caused by 
an MDC-NGO effort to direct WFP food to its supporters.  Ndou 
said he told Zuma that this was only one version of the truth 
(a euphemistic way to describe a lie, since Mudenge has the 
WFP's full documentation of ZANU-PF militants' seizure of WFP 
under the tolerant eyes of police.) 
 
4.(C) On land, Ndou said that the GOZ had sought to turn the 
discussion from how the land redistribution had been carried 
out to how the "completed" process could be made to work. 
The GOZ claimed that the missing element was UK compensation 
for farmers and international assistance for new farmers -- 
themes FonMin Zuma echoed in her press remarks. Ndou said 
that the SAG had urged a reengagement on the Abuja accord 
commitments with Nigeria again taking a lead. 
 
5.(C) Ndou said there was little engagement on political 
issues, as Mudenge maintained the line that no dialogue with 
the MDC was possible so long as the MDC maintained its court 
challenge of the presidential election.  Instead, the GOZ 
asked South Africa to help the UK and US to improve relations 
with Zimbabwe.  It does not appear that the SAG pushed back 
very hard and Ndou said that the SAG hoped that governance 
issues could be addressed as a consequence of GOZ acceptance 
of NEPAD.  The Ambassador took the occasion to outline his 
recent discussions with GOZ officials on the political crisis 
and to underline that there was no exit from Zimbabwe's 
inter-related crises without addressing the political crisis. 
 Ndou did not disagree, but it does not appear that the SAG 
took this line at the Pretoria meetings. 
 
6. (C) Ndou said that the SADC-EU meeting in Maputo had been 
spoiled by Foreign Minister Mudenge who took a rhetorical and 
absolutist position, thereby rejecting the position brokered 
by South Africa and others which would have had the EU and 
SADC continuing to dialogue on Zimbabwe.  Instead, the final 
communique spelled out that the EU and SADC disagreed totally 
on Zimbabwe. 
 
7. (C) Ndou noted that the number of Zimbabwean applicants 
for visas to South Africa was growing daily, in part due to 
the UK's new visa regime. He said that about 40 per cent of 
these visa recipients never returned to Zimbabwe. 
 
SULLIVAN