The Zimbabwean
14th February 2009
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe reappointed the same old group of loyalists blamed for mismanaging Zimbabwe into the new power-sharing Cabinet with the opposition MDC formations.
Analysts said there was little to suggest a shift of policy by Zanu (PF) as Mugabe had merely recycled dead wood, keeping the same group of people he once described last August as “the worst Cabinet ever.”
Government critics accuse Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party of plunging Zimbabwe’s once brilliant economy into unprecedented recession through repression and wrong policies such as the chaotic and often violent farm seizures that destroyed the mainstay agricultural sector.
In contrast to Mugabe’s team, both Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara appointed admittedly people with little or no experience in running government but many of them respected technocrats and experts in their fields.
Mutambara settled for his vice president Gibson Sibanda, secretary general Professor Welshman Ncube, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and respected human rights lawyer David Coltart to represent his party in Cabinet. Tsvangirai juggled with his Cabinet representatives, mainly professionals in various disciplines.
Among veteran ministers retained by Mugabe were Joseph Made, Patrick Chinamasa, Didymus Mutasa, Sydney Sekeramayi, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Ignatius Chombo.
Commenting on Mugabe’s appointments Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary genera Wellington Chibebe said: “The question which now begs for an answer from him is: why did he allow this worst cabinet in the history of Zimbabwe to continue ruining the country (by reappointing them).â€