The Zimbabwean
10th October 2017
The People’s Democratic Party led by former finance minister Tendai Biti has dismissed President Robert Mugabe’s cabinet reshuffle, saying the nonagenarian seems to be “running around a roundabout that will take him to nowhere.”
Mugabe on Monday announced a sudden reshuffle where he dropped three ministers and re-assigned 10 others as he clipped under-fire Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s wings. The portfolio previously occupied by the embattled VP, accused by Mugabe’s wife of being impatient to take over power from her husband, was given to Central Intelligence Organisation director-general Happyton Bonyongwe.
In an interview with The Zimbabwean, PDP’s spokesperson, Jacob Mafume, said the cabinet reshuffle would not take Zimbabwe anywhere. “The cabinet reshuffle shows that Mugabe is running around a roundabout to nowhere,†he said.
Mafume, a practising lawyer, added that Mugabe placed priority on loyalty to himself by the ministers rather than the need to turnaround the country’s economic fortunes and deliver Zimbabweans out of poverty. “He has destroyed the country. All he worries about is loyalty to himself and nothing for the country,†said Mafume.
Writting on his twitter-handle, Zimbabwean lawyer, Christian leader and politician, David Coltart, also lambasted Mugabe’s cabinet reshuffle: “The old man appears to have totally lost the plot – as bad as Finance Minister Chinamasa was, to replace him with Chombo is sheer lunacy.â€
Mugabe is due to contest next year’s election, with his main challenger being veteran opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The soon-to-be- 94 leader has been in power since independence in 1980.