|
Mugabe Names New Cabinet
 |
|
Mugabe has recently faced mounting international criticism over his eviction of white farmers
|
HARARE,
August 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Zimbabwe President
Robert Mugabe named a new cabinet Sunday, August 25, retaining most of
the loyal stalwarts who have presided over the southern African
nation’s controversial land redistribution program, state media
announced.
Only
Finance Minister Simba Makoni, seen by many as one of the more
moderate members of the cabinet, and the ailing white member of his
cabinet, Health Minister Timothy Stamps were dropped, Agence
France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Makoni
had called for policies unpopular with Mugabe such as the devaluation
of the Zimbabwe dollar. He was replaced by former Trade Minister
Herbert Murerwa.
Stamps
was replaced by his deputy David Parirenyatwa.
Lands
Minister Joseph Made, whose ministry has presided over Zimbabwe’s
eviction of white farmers to make way for landless blacks, and
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, who has crafted tough new
information laws, retained their posts.
Other
ministers have been reshuffled, and there is only one new face, that
of Amos Midzi a former diplomat and tourism official who becomes
minister of the new ministry of energy and power development.
Hardliners
like Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Local Government Minister
Ignatius Chombo, Rural Resources and Water Development Minister Joyce
Mujuru and Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge, all of whom have supported
Mugabe through increasing international isolation, kept their posts,
AFP said.
Mugabe,
who this month has faced mounting international criticism over his
eviction of white farmers, announced that he was dissolving cabinet
late on Friday, August 13, five months after a disputed win in March
presidential elections.
Legal
experts had suggested that he was obliged to appoint a cabinet soon
after his inauguration, although state media this weekend claimed that
was not true.
The
new minister of trade is Samuel Mumbengegwi, who was the higher
education minister.
Former
Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo takes over a new portfolio, minister
of special affairs in the president's office. The new home affairs
minister is Kembo Mohadi, formerly deputy minister of local
government.
Six
new deputy ministers have also been appointed.
There
has been no word yet about the positions of the two ageing
vice-presidents, Joseph Msika and Simon Muzenda, both 79, who had been
widely expected to be retired and replaced by other close associates
of Mugabe.
Witness
Mangwende becomes the new minister of transport and communications. He
is a veteran politician and supporter of the ruling Zimbabwe African
National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and has in the past held
senior government posts.
This
is the first new cabinet since one appointed after parliamentary
elections in June 2000, although there have been minor reshuffles
following the death of two cabinet ministers in car accidents and the
resignation of one other last year.
The
leader of the country’s main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai said to comment on the new cabinet
would give credit to an illegitimate leader, AFP said.
The
MDC has rejected the outcome of March presidential elections, which
saw President Robert Mugabe defeating Tsvangirai by some 400,000 votes
in an election considered deeply flawed by western observers.
“How
do you expect me to make a comment on a cabinet appointed by an
illegitimate President,” Tsvangirai told AFP.
Economic
analyst John Robertson said the axing of finance minister Makoni was
of “little consequence” as he “wasn’t allowed to do what he
wanted to.”
“Our
political structure leaves Mugabe with all the power,” Robertson
noted, adding that Makoni could now give “a huge sigh of relief”
at having been relieved of tasks he had no authority to perform.
Commenting
on the new cabinet on Sunday, the privately-owned Standard newspaper
described the new cabinet as “a non-event which came as a big yawn
to Zimbabweans who had hoped for a progressive and forward-looking
cabinet”.
|
