Mnangagwa ro reshuffle his Cabinet

By Staff reporter | 18 Feb 2019 at 23:27hrs
Cabinet
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has hinted that he will name the new resident minister for Harare Province, almost 6 months after appointing his cabinet.

The ZANU PF First Secretary is also expected to make some cosmetic changes to his cabinet with at least four ministers rumoured to be on their way out due to many reasons among them incompetence, untrustworthy and corruption.

Hotspots include the Ministry of Finance led by newcomer Mthuli Ncube and the Information Ministry under Monica Mutsvangwa.

The Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has maintained a no-show in parliament due to a tight international schedule causing his austerity measures to be misunderstood and leading to endless civil unrests in the country.

The Finance Minister has also been heavily criticized by Tendai Biti, the MDC shadow Head of Treasury for prescribing a Western-style monetary policy in a country that would rather require robust measures such as adopting the rand and maintaining moderate government spending to keep alive the country's economic growth potential.

Zimbabwe is a small economy and cannot afford a complete "shutdown" on government spending.

Ever since the measures have been put in place, about 96 big companies have closed shop and more are to follow citing viability problems and a lukewarm economic activity.

Analysts believe Mthuli Ncube will not last the distance as he is pursuing an IMF prescribed ESAP template which former President Robert Mugabe abandoned midway due to its dire effects on the economy.

Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya looks set to retain his job due to experience and clarity of his monetary policy such as the bond note currency that he has managed to keep as the strongest currency in the SADC region.

In the Information Ministry, President Mnangagwa is expected to make a hard choice of re-locating either Energy Mutodi or Monica Mutsvangwa due to the two's sour working relationship.

Analysts say it was obvious from the start that there was no way new blood could blend with the old without problems.

Monica Mutsvangwa has failed to run the ministry, leaving much of the decision making to Information Secretary Nick Mangwana who now is the pseudo minister in the ministry.

President Mnangagwa has failed to find a match for Jonathan Moyo in the Ministry, forcing him to intervene through his own twitter account and sometimes through the ZANU PF information tsar Simon Khaya Moyo.

In most cases, the Information ministry is late to respond to hot issues on social media and has given room to the opposition propaganda machinery to influence the West to maintain sanctions against Zimbabwe.

To make matters worse, the ZBC has suspended Mnangagwa's loyalist Tazzen Mandizvidza while Zimpapers has appointed MDC apologists into top editorial positions under the watch of the minister.

The Deputy Minister Energy Mutodi has overshadowed the Minister on a number of cases and has been the most visible defending government policies while the minister has been reduced to a news bulletin presenter, reading out cabinet resolutions and prepared speeches.

Energy Minister Jorum Gumbo looks like is safe after President Mnangagwa announced at a Mwenezi rally recently that a solution to the fuel crisis had been found.

The same applies to Agriculture Minister Perence Shiri and Basic and Higher Education Ministers Paul Mavhima and Amon Murwira respectively to whom Mnangagwa has passed impressive comments.

With the Foreign Affairs Minister SB Moyo now back on feet after a long sick leave, there will be no changes in that ministry although the Home Affairs Ministry may need a re-look after police failed to contain protests, prompting Mnangagwa to assign the military to assist.

The involvement of the army in maintaining peace and enforcing the law has angered Western governments with the EU now contemplating imposing a new set of measures against the government.

Generally there seems to be no life in a number of economic ministries such as Labour, Industry and Commerce, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and Tourism, and the aggressiveness that Obert Mpofu used to bring to the Mines Ministry is gone; prompting the need for some ministers to be given a wake up call or be dismissed all together.

In the Ministry of Defence, President Mnangagwa has re-affirmed his grip on the military by retiring and re-assigning at least four powerful generals who of late have posed a threat to his rule.

There was a fear that the military coup stage another coup in favour of Vice President Chiwenga if what they were promised during the coup was not delivered.

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