Zimpapers Logo

But a constitutional expert yesterday said only President Mugabe could remove Prof Mutambara from the post of Deputy Prime Minister.
In an interview yesterday, Prof Ncube said his party, like any other member of the inclusive Government, had the right to reshuffle its members anytime including Prof Mutambara.
“Prof Mutambara will remain where he is until we reshuffle . . . This will take place anytime — today, in three months, six months or in a year.
“Any party in the inclusive Government reserves the right to reshuffle its skills in Government anytime,” he said.

However, constitutional lawyer and cha-irperson of the National Constitutional Assembly, Dr Lovemore Madhuku, said MDC had no legal mandate to oust DPM Mutambara from the inclusive Government.

He said that was the prerogative of President Mugabe.
Dr Madhuku said the only other option available to MDC was for Prof Mutambara to resign from his position as DPM on his own volition.

“The country’s law does not allow any Government minister to be recalled by his party. Legally, Professor Mutambara can only leave Government either through resigning — which is out of his choice — or be dismissed by the President.
“Even if the party asks him to leave office, he can say I don’t want to and they cannot do anything to him. Politically, they can do nothing to him,” he said.

Dr Madhuku said DPM Mutambara could only leave office on political moral grounds because he would not have a constituency to speak for.
“In fact, our Constitution allows people without constituencies to serve in Government. There are so many people serving in Government who do not have a consti-tuency. As long as the law allows that, there is no way the party can recall him,” Dr Madhuku said.

He said it was critical that people understood the difference between the law and political morality, as it was only President Mugabe who could force Prof Mutambara to resign or dismiss him if not happy with his performance.

Following the election of Prof Ncube as MDC president, he becomes senior to Prof Mutambara at the party but is junior to him in Government.
Prof Ncube insisted this would not cause problems in carrying out his duties as Minister of Industry and Commerce.
“Prof Mutambara co-ordinates clusters of Ministries assigned to him and my ministry is not among them. Mine falls under Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Our working relations are very good contrary to what you read . . . If we were not united, we would not have reached where we are today,” he said.

Prof Ncube said his party did not consider party positions when deploying peo-ple to Government.
“We look at skills that we want before we deploy to Government.  Prof Mutambara got the DPM post ahead of (the late) Gibson Sibanda, Priscilla Misihairabwi got a post in Government ahead of many senior party officials. When we deploy, we do not look at hierarchy in the party,” he said.
Prof Ncube said there was nothing wro-ng in him assuming the post of principal in the inclusive Government.
However, on taking the post of DPM, he was non-committal.

He said the GPA was clear that anyone elected president of a political party in the inclusive Government would immediately become a principal after informing President Mugabe.
“It’s obvious; it’s automatic that you become a principal. I am surprised that some people are saying it must not be like that,” he said.
Prof Mutambara could not be reached for comment as he was said to be in South Africa.

However, Tsholotsho North legislator and political scientist, Prof Jonathan Moyo, said Prof Ncube was trying to cause confusion in the inclusive Government.
“What is happening is a true example of dysfunctional policies of the so called inclusive Government and it is a bold case for the country to have early elections. Professor Ncube should come out openly and say he wants to be both principal and Deputy Prime Minister. He is being dishonest,” he said.
Prof Moyo said both factions of the MDC in the inclusive Government were puppets bent on undermining our independence and national sovereignty.
He said Prof Ncube always vacillated, adding at one point he told the nation that he would not contest the post of president because a Ndebele person would never be president of a national political party.

“This means as a leader, he does not know whether he is coming or going. If he wants the nation to have elections in 2013, why did he call for a congress to elect him as party president? They were supposed to wait in the interest of the GPA. How can you hold elections to disrupt the GPA? Logically speaking, he wants to be DPM and principal. When the principals meet, they do not discuss party politics, but Government issues. Why should they meet with a minister? Surely our country does not deserve this,” he said.
Prof Moyo said Zimbabweans should be reminded that the country has only one principal — President Mugabe, who is also Head of State and Government and Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Dr Joseph Kurebwa concurred with Prof Moyo that Prof Ncube wanted to be a principal and DPM.