SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe finally announced his ‘new’ Cabinet Tuesday afternoon, almost five weeks after the July 31st election. There was a lot of speculation over who would make it into government, but many observers expected Mugabe to recycle the same old “deadwood”, which he has relied on for 33 years. Details of Mugabe’s appointments were still filtering in by the time of going on-air but reports that Professor Jonathan Moyo had been reappointed Information Minister is set to cause a lot of anxiety within media circles. As part of Mugabe’s government Moyo in 2002 crafted the hated Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), and since then, the law has been used to arrest, intimidate, harass and shut down media houses. ZANU PF minister Edison Zvobgo described Moyo’s law as “the most calculated and determined assault on our liberties guaranteed by the Constitution”. Deputising Moyo is former ZBC journalist Supa Mandiwanzira, who recently labelled SW Radio Africa “a danger to the media industry. In fact, it’s a pirate radio station that should never exist.” According to the state-owned Herald newspaper, Cabinet was reduced from 33 to 26. Other names include Simon Khaya Moyo, who was appointed Senior Minister without Portfolio, and Andrew Langa who got the Sport, Art and Culture portfolio. There will be sighs of relief within foreign-owned mining and banking circles following Saviour Kasukuwere’s removal from the Indigenisation portfolio to head the Environment Ministry, in what is being seen by some as a demotion. Posting on Twitter, former Education Minister David Coltart wrote: “Chief Hardliner Saviour Kasukuwere DEMOTED to safeguard the sovereignty of our rivers, wells, dams, taps etc.” But the most shock was reserved for the news that Emmerson Mnangagwa and Patrick Chinamasa had been appointed Justice Minister and Finance Minister respectively. Expressing his shock in a tweet, Jeffrey Smith wrote: “No worries. The thud you heard was only the Zim Stock Exchange smacking the ground after Chinamasa was named new Finance Minister.”