US embassy cable - 05HARARE1560

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001560 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR B. NEULING 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE 
AFR/SA FOR E. LOKEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2010 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, ELAB, ASEC, SOCI, ZI, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Other Political Parties 
SUBJECT: PROTESTERS RELEASED, PLANNING MORE ACTION 
 
REF: (A) HARARE 1534 (B) HARARE 1527 (C) HARARE 1512 
     (D) HARARE 1503 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Eric T. Schultz under Section 1 
.4 b/d 
 
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Summary 
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1. (C) On November 10 and 11, the police released the 
arrestees involved in the recent Zimbabwe Congress of Trade 
Unions (ZCTU) and National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) 
sponsored protests.  The police also released student 
activists and other civil society members who had been 
arrested last week in connection with separate events.  On 
the heels of these arrests, contacts in the democratic 
opposition told us they are planning to go forward with 
additional protests.  End summary. 
 
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Activists, Mayor Released 
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2.  (C) Following his arrest associated with last week,s NCA 
protest (ref B), NCA Chairman Lovemore Madhuku was released 
November 10; no NCA protesters remain in jail.  NCA 
spokesperson Columbus Madzunga told Poloff on November 14 
that Madhuku had been unharmed and intimated that police and 
prison guards had been sympathetic to Madhuku and other 
arrested protestors.  Madzunga said that the GOZ had dropped 
charges initially filed against Madhuku under the Criminal 
Evidence Act but advised Madhuku that they may serve him with 
a summons to reappear within a few days. 
 
3.  (C) Following their arrests in connection with ZCTU 
protests on November 8 (ref A), ZCTU General Secretary 
Wellington Chibebe and ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo were 
released November 11.  ZCTU Information Officer Mlamleli 
Sibanda said the organization,s activists had appeared tired 
but otherwise healthy.  All of those arrested had been held 
in police custody without being formally charged within 48 
hours as required by law.  Irene Petras of the Zimbabwe 
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) noted that ZCTU activists 
were held 30 to a cell in cells designed to hold six people. 
Petras added that the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) 
interrogated each individual protester. 
 
4.  (C) ZLHR lawyer Otto Saki confirmed to the Embassy on 
November 14 that police had also released six University of 
Zimbabwe student leaders on November 11 following their 
arrest earlier in the week by campus police.  Four of the 
six, including the Student Executive Council,s Secretary 
General Garikai Kajauro, Vice-President Colleen Chibango, 
Information and Publicity Secretary Mfundo Mlilo, and Legal 
Secretary Wellington Mahohoma, had been suspended from the 
 
SIPDIS 
university after staging a protest on October 19 in 
connection with new university charges for toilet repairs. 
They obtained a court order requiring their reinstatement but 
were again arrested on attempting to re-enter the university 
grounds.  They were released following payment of a small 
fine for breach of the Miscellaneous Offenses Act - "conduct 
likely to breach the peace."  Saki advised that the students 
were seeking an additional court order to assure their return 
to the campus. 
 
5.  (C) Saki also reported that Chitungwiza Mayor Mishek 
Shoko had been released on November 11.  Following long 
running tension with the GOZ (ref D), the controversial mayor 
had been arrested on November 8 (ref B) and charged with 
violation of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) in 
connection with a meeting he had held with constituents on 
November 7.  Saki reported that the state had dropped the 
charges but could yet proceed against Shoko by means of a 
separate summons. 
 
6.  (C) Police also released Netsai Mushonga of the Women,s 
Coalition on November 10, following 50 hours of 
incarceration.  Mushonga had been arrested on November 8 
after convening a peace and nonviolence training workshop on 
November 5 and 6 without prior police approval.  She told 
Embassy contacts that the police and prison guards had shown 
a lack of enthusiasm - at times even sympathy - in their 
arrest and processing, and that POSA charges against her had 
been dismissed. 
 
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More Protests Planned 
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7. (C) ZCTU's Sibanda told PolOff on November 14 that the 
ZCTU planned further actions in conjunction with others in 
civil society but could not provide any details as to the 
nature or timing of such future actions.  NCA's Madzunga 
informed PolOff that the NCA was meeting on the afternoon of 
November 14 to plan its next protest - again, likely to 
proceed in multiple locations - and would keep the Embassy 
advised. 
 
8.  (C) Movement for Democratic Change Secretary for 
Presidential Affairs Gandhi Mudzingwa reiterated to the 
Embassy on November 14 that the party planned to renew its 
own efforts at civic action (ref C).  He said party President 
Morgan Tsvangirai was likely to announce dates for 
unspecified civic action by the end of this week. 
Separately, AFP reported that Tsvangirai's rally in Bulawayo 
November 13 attracted 8-10,000 people and other sources 
indicated that a rally he held in Gweru the same day also 
drew several thousand people. 
 
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Comment 
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9. (C) Last week,s protests marked a renewal of the 
democratic opposition,s willingness to peacefully yet 
forcefully confront the GOZ.  More promising from our point 
of view was the protest,s focus on the regime,s economic 
mismanagement and general misrule, issues we believe are far 
more likely to resonate with the general public than 
constitutional reform and other pet rocks of the 
opposition,s leadership.  Buoyed by attendance at their 
public events as well as by the relatively muted response of 
the police, and despite continuing intra-party turmoil over 
the Senate elections, the MDC and its civil society allies 
seem set to go forward with more protests. 
SCHULTZ