PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is expected to decide the fate of serving diplomats by the end of the month when their extended term expires.
CHIEF REPORTER
Mugabe appoints ambassadors to represent him abroad in his capacity as the head of State and government.
Ambassadors serve four-year terms that can be renewed depending on foreign policy considerations.
Foreign Affairs deputy minister Christopher Mutsvangwa told Parliament last week that diplomats served at the pleasure of Mugabe.
Mutsvangwa was responding to a question in the Senate from Chief Chisunga who had asked him to explain government policy on the deployment of diplomats.
“It is a professional undertaking because diplomats are trained people who are there to serve their country abroad.
“You cannot serve in a particular country continuously because you risk becoming a local citizen of that particular country,” said Mutsvangwa.
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“So, it is important that you be moved and along the way you either go to a different country or you come back home to acclimatise with the new situation at home. An ambassador serves at the mercy of the head of State because you are a personal representative of the head of State, so if the head of State feels that your term of duty can be extended in a particular place because it is in the interest of the country, then it can be extended.”
Mutsvangwa said during the era of the inclusive government it presented “peculiar circumstances” which saw diplomats serving longer than the allocated three to four years.
“If they had been recalled and we tried to replace them, there would have been bickering among the various ruling parties of that particular era,” he said.
“So the head of State, in his wisdom, saw it fit to extend the terms of duty of those people until we get to 31st July 2014 when a decision can be made by him, as the single ruling leader of the country.
During the inclusive government period, MDC-T nominated four ambassadors, while the MDC led by Welshman Ncube had one envoy.
