Tsvangirai To Reshuffle Ministers

Tsvangirai is said to be unhappy with most of his ministers who have now seemingly relaxed in the luxuries that go with being a minister where among other perks they get top of the range Mercedes Benz vehicles and at least two all terrain vehicles.

The ministers including those from Zanu (PF) get less than US$300 a month but have been virtually on a fundraising crusade through endless business trips across the globe where they get hefty travel, accommodation and subsistence allowances.

“Tsvangirai is fed up by ministers who have generally failed to deliver on their promises and will either reshuffle them or fire them completely. They are enjoying the luxuries and forgetting where they came from.

“The Prime Minister wants to make sure that the drastic action he is taking will make the ministers work hard so that they deliver on their promises. He is also not happy that some of his ministers are always globetrotting in search of allowances but he wants to put this to a stop.

“Ministers like Giles Mutsekwa have become part of the old system to an extent that he can go public speaking Zanu (PF) language like praising the police for being very professional when he was in Australia last year and banning demonstrations.  Yet we all know how brutal the police are in Zimbabwe including at some point against the minister himself.

“Mutsekwa has dismally failed as co-minister of Home Affairs because MDC people and human rights defenders keep getting arrested in his face yet he is doing nothing,” said a source close to Tsvangirai.

The Prime Minister wanted to announce the changes on Monday and even called a press conference but cancelled at the last minute after consulting with President Robert Mugabe who advised him to wait for a few days while he sorted out the legal implications of axing the ministers.

Mugabe is the one who will sign the letters as head of state but Tsvangirai has the power to hire and fire his ministers in the allocation given to him by the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

Besides Mutsekwa, the other minister who is said to be in trouble in Elias Mudzuri who is in charge of energy. Since Mudzuri came into office, the electricity situation in the country has worsened.

There were reports in Harare on Tuesday that Tsvangirai also wanted to move Finance Minister Tendai Biti to the Home Affairs portfolio to replace Mutsekwa.

Tsvangirai is also said to be planning to wield the axe on Professor Elias Mukonoweshuro and Professor Heneri Dzinotyiweyi, both of whom are generally regarded as underperforming academics.