via No Zimbabwe Cabinet 16 Days After Mugabe Inauguration by Gibbs Dube
President Robert Mugabe has not yet appointed a new cabinet, 16 days after he was sworn in following a general election in July this year which his party won with a resounding majority.
Although presidential spokesman George Charamba was not reachable for comment, critics said President Mugabe is facing serious challenges in choosing his cabinet as he wants to appoint individuals who will allow him to re-engage the West which imposed sanctions on Zanu PF’s inner circle.
The critics also said the president’s advanced age, the succession issue in the former liberation party and attempts to appoint a strong leadership are delaying the whole process.
Reacting to President Mugabe’s current cabinet issues, political analyst Professor Shadreck Guto of the University of South Africa said the Zanu PF leader, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 33 years, is possibly assembling his last cabinet.
“We are really dealing with a situation where the choice of the cabinet is highly contentious. Secondly, we are dealing here with a president here who is really in an advanced stage of ageing,” he said.
Professor Guto said constitutionally the president is empowered to appoint people from other parties like the Movement for Democratic Change formation of former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Some political commentators have indicated that it is unlikely for President Mugabe to pick some members of his cabinet from opposition parties as the succession debate heats up in Zanu PF.
COMMENTS
To imagine Mugabe appointing figures from the opposition is to imagine a reality that only exists in minds of humane, reasonable and sensitive people. Ever since I was a boy I have not known Mugabe to be such a person. It is most likely going to be a full Zanu Pf cabinet and defiance will be the order of the day going forward. Mugabe seems to be on another experiment to see if he cannot defy logic, common sense, economic realities and all criticism. He did it before and it brought us to 2008 and now he wants to do it again and see what will happen.
It seems that Zimbabwe is just a social experiment for this man
ADVANCED AGE IS TAKING ITS TOLL!
Where will he pick from if it is all dead wood? He tested a bit of normality during the inclusive government. Debates were mature and positive. Now he feels they over rigged.