US embassy cable - 03HARARE1158

UNCLAS HARARE 001158 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS AND INR/R/MR 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION MASS ACTION IN ZIM; HARARE 
 
 
  1.   The week-long mass action, called by the opposition 
      Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) aimed at 
      forcing Robert Mugabe to address the economic and 
      political crisis afflicting the country, remains the 
      mainstay for editorials being carried in the 
      mainstream media.  Excerpts follow: 
 
  2.   Under headline "The final nail on the economy" the 
      independent daily "The Daily News" (06/06) comments: 
 
      "The government's forcible opening of companies 
      heeding the opposition mass action to stay shut this 
      week and threats to deregister these firms could be 
      the final nail on an economy already on the brink of 
      total collapse.  When the dust of the harsh 
      clampdown on the mass action and on these companies 
      has settled down, the cost of the government's high- 
      handedness will only then unfold, and many in the 
      administration could have a rude awakening. . .It is 
      not the companies which will be the eventual losers 
      in this high-stakes game, but the government itself, 
      Zimbabwe and its people. . . ." 
 
  3.   Under headline "Regime clinging to power by force" the 
      independent weekly "The Zimbabwe Independent" (06/06) 
      comments: 
 
      ". . .If the MDC is unable to assemble its 
      supporters in town centers, its leadership is at 
      least able to call a successful strike whenever it 
      likes.  No amount of threats by ministers. . .could 
      get people to work. . .At the end of the week the 
      impression that remained was one of a desperately 
      insecure regime using every means at its disposal. . 
      .to get the country back to work. . .The reality, 
      which the world was able to observe this week, was 
      of a regime that is only able to survive by brute 
      force. . .We are all agreed that by its campaign 
      this week the MDC has drawn the attention of the 
      country and the world to the connection between 
      brutal misrule and economic collapse.  That is the 
      issue successfully dramatized by its followers in 
      the teeth of repression and which can no longer be 
      ignored, not even by the delusionist in State 
      House." 
 
  4.   Under headline "The West in discord" the 
      government-controlled daily "Chronicle" (06/06) 
      comments: 
 
      ". . .While the Western self-appointed anointers of 
      African rulers have consistently refused to `bless' 
      our President's victory in the 2002 election, the 
      same `angels. . .,' have decided to see legitimacy 
      in the mass action organized by MDC, when the action 
      was declared illegal by the High Court. . .The 
      Western governments decide to close their eyes so 
      that they see no evil and hear no evil.  They are 
      mum about the beatings of demonstrators in their 
      backyards but are quick to chastise Zimbabwe for 
      breaking up demonstrations organized by a party that 
      is in possession of a High Court order outlawing the 
      action. . .The people of this country will never 
      surrender their sovereignty to a bunch of leaders 
      who have never been elected by Zimbabweans. . . ." 
 
SULLIVAN