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Mugabe demotes Moyo in reshuffle

Politics
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe yesterday moved to clip Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo’s wings and minimised his influence in Zanu PF’s factional fights by reassigning him from the powerful Information portfolio to the less glamorous position of Higher Education minister.

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe yesterday moved to clip Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo’s wings and minimised his influence in Zanu PF’s factional fights by reassigning him from the powerful Information portfolio to the less glamorous position of Higher Education minister.

XOLISANI NCUBE/MOSES MATENGA

Moyo was sullen-faced when he arrived for the swearing-in ceremony.

The former Information tsar’s rivals in Zanu PF have accused him of using the State media to attack opponents in Zanu PF and fanning divisions in the ruling party.

Moyo was among several ministers who were shaken in a mini-Cabinet reshuffle announced at State House in Harare which also saw Nyasha Chikwinya making her maiden Cabinet appearance, while Marondera West MP and former Youth minister Ambrose Mutinhiri replaced newly-elected Zanu PF Mashonaland East provincial chairman Joel Biggie Matiza as Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs minister.

Moyo replaced Oppah Muchinguri at the Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development ministry while the latter was appointed Environment, Water and Climate minister a portfolio previously held by party commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, who has been moved to the Local Government ministry.

Moyo, who of late had been accused of abusing his access to the State media to attack his Zanu PF opponents and fanning factionalism, saw his world crumbling two weeks ago when Mugabe, in an unprecedented move, barred him from attending Cabinet meetings and kept him in suspense before dropping the bombshell yesterday afternoon.

The reshuffle, which was announced by Chief Secretary to the the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda, took place at a time Zanu PF was fighting renewed factional fights centred on Mugabe’s unresolved succession issue.

Mutinhiri was appointed Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs minister to replace Matiza with Chikwinya landing the post of Women Affairs minister which had remained vacant since last year.

The biggest winners in the reshuffle were Kasukuwere, administration secretary Ignatius Chombo and secretary for security Kembo Mohadi after they landed the Local Government, Home Affairs and State Security ministries, respectively.

“His Excellency the President has in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe appointed the Minister of Provincial Affairs for Mashonaland East to take over from Minister Biggie Matiza, who is now full-time chairman for Zanu PF (in Mashonaland East),” Sibanda said.

“The Minister of State who has been sworn in is Ambrose Mutinhiri. The President has also regularised the appointment of Professor Jonathan Moyo and reassigned him as new Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education. He has also appointed a new Minister for Women Affairs, as you know this has been vacant for a long time and the new minister is Nyasha Chikwinya.”

On the unfilled Information portfolio, Sibanda said: “For now it will remain vacant and an appointment will be made in due course, but (Labour, Public Service and Social Welfare minister Prisca) Mupfumira will be acting. In addition to his duties as Vice-President, (Phelekezela) Mphoko has been assigned the responsibility over policy co-ordination in the Office of the President and Cabinet.”

University of Zimbabwe lecturer and analyst Eldred Masunungure said that there was nothing much to read into the reshuffle except that Moyo, as professor, “was a round peg in a round hole”.

“This is essentially a reshuffle; I don’t want to read much into it except that Moyo fits the post because he is an academic. It’s a round peg in a round hole. There is a synergy between his qualifications, experience and the post he has been appointed to,” Masunungure said.

He said there was, however, little to expect on the economic front as the reshuffle did not touch on economic portfolios yet they were critical in the running of the country.

“I can’t read too much into it in terms of delivery. Things are not going on well on the economic front. There has been no shift in the economic ministries so I expect it will be business as usual in the economic ministries yet that is the critical cog in our current environment,” he said.

Another analyst, Alexander Rusero, said Mugabe was sending a clear message that “I am still there and no competing centre of power”.

Rusero added: “President Mugabe is making it clear that he is in charge and those who want to create confusion in the party are warned. Looking at Professor Jonathan Moyo, he was said to have become a challenge at the Ministry of Information, hence he has been moved to the Higher and Tertiary Education ministry where, looking at his skills and educational qualification, he rightfully belongs. But knowing Moyo and his potential, he will deliver well on his new mandate.”

MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu said: “After he has finished running down the Local Government ministry, Chombo has been moved to the Home Affairs portfolio, to do what? Loot and protect the Zanu PF thieves from arrest? There is nothing to celebrate as long as Mugabe is there and Zanu PF still in power; it is the same old story.”

Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe leader Elton Mangoma described the reshuffle as “rearranging chairs in a sinking ship that will not change the fortunes of the people of Zimbabwe”.

MDC Renewal spokesperson Jacob Mafume also described the reshuffle as producing “worse than deadwood”. “The word deadwood does not even begin to describe the new Cabinet. Mugabe and his Cabinet have become the undertakers of the people’s livelihoods and aspirations. They have turned State House into a mortuary or graveyard and we have become the ghosts of their failed economic policies. We are doomed to suffer in the hell they have created of this country,” he said.