US embassy cable - 05HARARE1673

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001673 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR B. NEULING 
SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, ZI, MDC 
SUBJECT: COURT SIDES WITH TSVANGIRAI, OPPONENTS PLOT NEXT 
STEPS 
 
REF: HARARE 001662 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Christopher Dell for reasons 1.5 b/d 
 
1.  (SBU) High Court Justice Yunus Omerjee on December 9 
dismissed the court case seeking to bar Morgan Tsvangirai 
from conducting MDC party business (reftel).  Omerjee also 
ordered that former MDC deputy secretary general Gift 
Chimanikire ) in whose name the application was submitted ) 
pay the court fees.  In his judgment, the justice noted that 
Chimanikire had no authority to bring the case forward on the 
MDC,s behalf.  Responding to the judgment in his favor, 
Tsvangirai told journalists &the people,s will has once 
 
SIPDIS 
again triumphed.8 
 
2.  (C) Chimanikire initially responded to the ruling by 
telling journalists that an appeal was imminent, but allied 
MDC MP Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga told post on December 
12 that the pro-Senate faction was thinking twice about 
continued legal battles.  Misihairabwi-Mushonga conceded that 
Omerjee made the correct decision based on the information 
presented before him.  To this end, the pro-Senate faction 
blamed their chief legal council, Advocate Garikayi Mandizha, 
for not presenting all the information in the case.  Rather 
than continue the legal battle in the GOZ-manipulated courts, 
Misihairabwi-Mushonga said that arbitration was a good 
possibility and that former mediator Brian Raftopolous could 
be asked to oversee the division of party resources. 
 
3.  (SBU) Meanwhile, the party disciplinary committee hearing 
against Ncube, Chimanikire, and other pro-Senate leaders has 
been postponed one week to December 17 to allow the 
faction,s lawyers to prepare their case. 
 
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Comment 
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4.  (C) By all accounts an MDC split is inevitable.  However, 
if the competing MDC factions go their separate ways 
relatively amicably, it could help the opposition,s 
effectiveness.  A protracted and potentially violent divorce 
would only serve to weaken the anti-Mugabe forces, a scenario 
that ZANU-PF is probably counting on and may well be 
encouraging. 
DELL