Reshuffle expected following Mugabe’s attack on cabinet

By Tichaona Sibanda
20 February 2006

Robert Mugabe could be planning a major cabinet reshuffle following a stinging criticism of some of his underperforming ministers.

A political analyst said it has become tradition that whenever he makes a public statement blaming some cabinet ministers for not perfoming up to standard, he has followed that up with a reshuffle.

Lucky Hungwe, a political analyst who watched Mugabe’s interview on national television on Sunday, said this was a clear signal that he was ‘ready to pounce on them’. Mugabe disclosed in the interview that some of his cabinet ministers were to blame for the economic crisis.

Mugabe blamed his cabinet for failing to pull the country out of a crippling economic crisis, but did not come out in the open and disclose whether he would axe the underperfoming ministers.

The development cabinet was appointed in April 2005 with a mission to turnaround the country’s economic fortunes, tittering on the brink of a total collapse as a result of Mugabe’s disastrous policies.

Hungwe said for the first in as many months, Mugabe chose not to mention or lambast his critics and the opposition.

‘I think its now clear to him that the country’s economic woes are not as a result of the opposition or Tony Blair as he would like us to believe. In a nutshell he did not offer any solutions other than blame his ministers and labelling the International Monetary Fund as devils,’ said Hungwe.