MDC-T legislators last week said the poor state of Zimbabwe’s foreign embassies had confirmed claims by former Foreign Affairs deputy minister Christopher Mutsvangwa that his ex-boss Simbarashe Mumbengegwi was “incompetent”.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
Mabvuku-Tafara MP James Maridadi (MDC-T) said the slides played in Parliament by the Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Committee about the state of disrepair at Zimbabwe’s Botswana and Ethiopian embassies had proved that Mumbengegwi was sleeping on duty.
“Christopher Mutsvangwa, who is former Foreign Affairs (deputy) minister — and this is on record and can be verified — once said Mumbengegwi is hopelessly incompetent,” Maridadi said.
“Looking at the pictures we have seen today (last week) of the embassy, it is a reflection of incompetence and nothing else and so what it means is that with hindsight, Mutsvangwa has been vindicated and he is having the last laugh.”
In July last year, Mutsvangwa accused Mumbengegwi of incompetence after First Lady Grace Mugabe was embarrassingly denied a visa to Belgium to attend a United Nations conference.
Kuwadzana East MP Nelson Chamisa (MDC-T) also echoed similar sentiments, saying: “One may recall that of all the ministers, we have a minister who has become truant, hardly comes to Parliament and he tells us he will be busy. He has been a minister since 2005 and a permanent feature of our government, but if you look at the output, this is the sort of minister who is supposed to be fired immediately.”
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He added: “He has nothing to account for his absence from duty. These are serious issues. I have seen the grass at our Ethiopian embassy, perhaps, they are taking after the style of our minister when he keeps his beard.”
Chamisa also blasted Mumbengegwi over President Robert Mugabe’s recently aborted trip to India, saying the minister should have advised the President not to attend “a low-key meeting which has no respect whatsoever in India”.
Buhera West MP Oliver Mandipaka (Zanu PF) demanded that Mumbengegwi should appear before Parliament to explain the rot at the country’s embassies all over the world.
