The shake shake cabinet

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai once again demonstrated how much of a sound statesman he is compared to his fellow principals in the GNU. The reasons given for the shake-up were plausible and clearly articulated by the PM himself. As usual, the brain-damaged state media had a field day speculating that the reshuffle was evidence that there were serious divisions and factionalism within the popular democratic party. Nothing can be further from the truth. It is interesting that the MDCs detractors are desperate to impress all of us that the chronic factionalism experienced by the dying Zanu (PF) party is also running rampant in the MDC. Dream on guys; this is a free country.

Tsvangirai, through this latest cabinet reshuffle, has demonstrated that government positions are not about friendship and silly little liaisons. He has shown the country and his own political party that government positions are about performance and good governance. They are not about whether you are a founding member of the party or not. They are about competence in the execution of your mandate and for the benefit of the nation. They are not even about whether you come from this region or that district. They are about your service to the people of this country. The mixed bag of retired and re-assigned officials has thrown many weak-minded journalists into a tail-spin. They have no idea of what is happening in the MDC, so they spend a lot of energy speculating wildly and mostly wrongly about the reality of the situation.

But why has Mugabe and Mutambara not also reshuffled their teams at this time? For Mugabe, the reasons are obvious; his team comprises entirely of deadwood, and so any reshuffle would leave him with no one to work with in cabinet. In fact, he would have to reshuffle himself out of the cabinet as well since he has become a chronic non-performer. Mutambara has such few people in the cabinet that a reshuffle would rock his little party to its foundations. The man has so much trouble with defections form his party to MDC-T that he cannot afford to alienate the few loyalists that still think that robotics has anything to do with the price of cotton in this country. Ago is a lucky man who fully understands the adage, let sleeping dogs lie.

The PM indicated that the ministers that he had dropped from the cabinet were going to devote their time to working for the party. With elections coming, hopefully, next year, the MDC needs to strongly maintain and sustain the huge inroads that it has made into previously Zanu (PF) strongholds. Recent surveys have consistently indicated that Mugabe and Zanu (PF)s support has fallen below 10 per cent of registered voters in Zimbabwe. The MDC cannot afford to let the people of this country down at this time.

The constitutional reform process is already proving to be a serious challenge to all well-meaning Zimbabweans. As expected, the Zanu (PF) hoodlums are actively disrupting numerous outreach meetings in some parts of the country. The MDC should not allow this nonsense to continue unchallenged. The Zanu (PF) hooligans have to be tackled firmly and urgently before the whole process is derailed. The MDC-T remains the peoples only hope for realistic and meaningful change for this country. The shake-up of the cabinet has given the people of this country the confidence that there is still someone in government who can make tough decisions for the benefit of the country as a whole. It is a sobering thought. Good on you Morgan. You are the man.