By Feluna Nleya
President Robert Mugabe has fired seven more ministers as part of an ongoing purge targeting officials linked to former Vice-President Joice Mujuru, who was expelled early this month on allegations of corruption and plotting to topple Mugabe.
In a statement last night, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda, said the officials had been fired in terms of Section 108 (10 (a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No 20 ) Act 2013 after their conduct and performance were deemed as below the expected standard and outcome.
The latest list includes Flora Buka (Minister of State for Presidential Affairs), Paul Chimedza (Health and Child Care deputy minister), Sylvester Nguni (Minister of State in former Vice-President Mujuru’s Office), Tongai Muzenda (Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare deputy minister), Petronella Kagonye (Transport deputy minister), Fortune Chasi (Justice deputy minister) and Tendai Savanhu (Lands and Rural Resettlement deputy minister).
The latest purge brings the number of axed ministers and deputies to 16 after nine others were relieved of their duties two weeks ago over allegations of reneging on their government mandate by engaging in alleged corrupt activities, factional fights and plotting to topple and or assassinate Mugabe.
The first group included Mujuru, Didymus Mutasa (Presidential Affairs minister), Webster Shamu (Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services), Francis Nhema (Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment), Olivia Muchena (Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development), Dzikamai Mavhaire (Energy and Power Development), Nicholas Goche (Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare), Simbaneuta Mudarikwa (Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs minister) and Munacho Mutezo (Energy and Power Development deputy minister).
Before the axe landed on them, the majority of the affected officials had already been shown the exit door after they lost their bids to land Zanu PF central committee seats.
The purge has also affected top party officials outside government, among them, former spokesperson Rugare Gumbo and nine former provincial chairpersons.
The chairpersons were fired soon after First Lady Grace Mugabe’s Meet the People Tour where she addressed several rallies throughout the country accusing them of fanning factionalism and belonging to Mujuru’s camp.
Mujuru, who has been replaced by former Justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, has denied all charges levelled against her.
She has since lost her central committee, politburo and Mt Darwin parliamentary seats.
Meanwhile, Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa has described the recent ouster of Mujuru as “a brazen display of basic disrespect for basic rights and processes” and labelled her detractors as “malevolent evil geniuses”.
In a speech to mark Unity Day today, the former Zipra intelligence supremo, who defected from Zanu PF in 2008 to revive Zapu, also claimed that top Zanu PF officials purged alongside Mujuru were plotting a comeback, setting the stage for an intricate political fight in the ruling party.
“The orchestration of this power grab was skilfully managed by evil geniuses to focus on a vicious and malevolent denigration of the sitting Vice-President Mujuru,” Dabengwa said.
Dabengwa warned that the ongoing purge against perceived anti-Mugabe elements could easily slide the country into “a dynastic Gushungo clan leadership”.
“The upheaval inside Zanu PF has repercussions that are beginning to take shape, the most important of which is increased hero-worship and signs of the evolution of a dynastic Gushungo clan leadership.
“If that development was limited to the ruling party, it would be of no interest to most of us.
“However, the visible and invisible hand of the First Lady (Grace Mugabe) in the making and unmaking of government leadership is something that needs to be decried.
“It is something that can erode whatever is left of collective leadership after a relentless trend of centralisation, this time with the added disaster of an untried and untested family-based leadership.”
Dabengwa added: “The important point here is not any interest in the party’s internal preferences, but the brazen display of disrespect for basic rights and processes.”
He claimed that some of Mujuru’s axed alleged allies were already working behind the scenes with a view to extricating the country’s leadership from one-man rule.
“It is early days yet, but the thrust of this engagement is to explore how the broad aims of our struggle for freedom and people-centred government can be restored to be the point of departure instead of the shell of presumed family-centric glory.” NewsDay
