Zimbabwe coalition in fresh row

Zimbabwe’s fledging coalition government has been engulfed by a fresh row over the control of cabinet portfolios amid an accusation by President Robert Mugabe’s loyalists that ministers from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party are trying to usurp the veteran ruler’s powers.
Mr Mugabe’s secretary George Charamba on Wednesday told state media the Minister of Information Communication Mr Nelson Chamisa was trying to re-order the functions of at least three ministries through a draft Information Communication Telecommunication (ICT) Bill.
The Bill sponsored by Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) seeks to open up Zimbabwe’s media and telecommunications sector, which have been tightly controlled by Mr Mugabe’s functionaries since independence.
In February, President Robert Mugabe almost caused the collapse of the coalition when he unilaterally took away the control of the telecommunications and broadcasting portfolios from Mr Chamisa and handed them to ministers from his Zanu PF.
The Herald newspaper, which is still fiercely loyal to Zanu PF, reported that the Chief Secretary to the president and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda refused to transmit the draft legislation to cabinet because it was flawed.
“We are not sure if the minister has crafted the draft as a member of this government or as an MDC functionary,” the paper said quoting a government source. “This is a political Bill.”
Mr Charamba said Mr Chamisa has ‘grievously misdirected himself’ in trying to change the functions of certain ministries and seeking to repeal laws that he did not administer.
“I have been favoured with a copy of the draft and I can tell you that is transcendental in intention,” he said. “It goes beyond the portfolio if the ICT ministry in that it purports to take legislative decisions on at least three Acts, which are outside his mandate.”
Another source from Mr Mugabe’s office quoted by the Herald said Mr Chamisa’s draft threatened the fabric of the inclusive government and would set a “a dangerous precedent for the coalition that is only half a year old.”
Six months after Mr Mugabe formed a unity government with his former arch rivals led by Mr Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara of the smaller formation of the MDC, the coalition is haggling over key reforms.
Hardliners in the former ruling Zanu PF are said to be resistant to media reforms because they are afraid of opening up space to the MDC formations ahead of fresh elections due in the next 18 months.
The fight intensified after Finance Minister Tendai Biti who is also the secretary general for the main MDC removed punitive import tax on newsprint and foreign newspapers in budget review last week.
His critics said he was exposing Zimbabwe to attacks by its enemies.
Some of the strongest critics for Mr Biti’s measures were former Information and Publicity Minister Jonathan Moyo who authored draconian media legislation that saw the mass closure of independent newspapers and barring of foreign journalists from working inside Zimbabwe.
Mr Charamba and the Minister of Information and Publicity Mr Webster Shamu of Zanu PF have also been dragged before the courts by journalists for trying to block media reform.
The Herald accused the MDC of waging a “systematic assassination of the president and key cabinet ministers.”
“Biti wants newsprint to come in for free and at the same time Chamisa is trying to strip the Ministry of Information of its role,” the paper said quoting another unnamed source. “These are things that should not be read in isolation.”
The renewed tensions come at a time when the coalition is riddled with infighting over a number of outstanding issues from the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that include the re-appointment of the central bank governor and the attorney general.
Mr Tsvangirai’s party has referred the outstanding issues to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for arbitration.
Meanwhile, the MDC’s parliamentary majority is fast diminishing following a string of convictions against its MPs after another legislator was jailed for corruption.
Mr Ernest Mudavanhu was handed a two year jail term after he was convicted of corruption involving the diversion of agricultural inputs from the government.
He will serve a year in jail after a Harare magistrate Mrs Olivia Mariga suspended half of the sentence – six months for good behaviour and six months on condition he pays US$15, 135 restitution.
Another four MPs were suspended from parliament last week after they were convicted for various offences.
In a statement, the MDC said: “The MDC is concerned by the continued persecution of its MPs, officials and party activists.
“The suspension of the two MPs is a well orchestrated move by some elements to whittle down the MDC’s majority in parliament.”
Five more MDC MPs face similar accusations of abusing farm inputs programme.
Last year, Mr Tsvangirai’s MDC overturned Zanu PF’s majority in parliament for the first time since independence from white colonial rule in 1980.