• Fresh controversy over ministerial powers in coalition government
• Coalition partners oppose Mugabe decree
• President instructs ministers not to report to Tsvangirai

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has courted a fresh crisis in his shaky coalition government by stripping ministers from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party of their powers

President Mugabe, Mr Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara were expected to address the latest dispute during their traditional meeting on Monday.

But the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) ministers have been expressing their disgruntlement in public.

According to Statutory Instrument 62 of 2010 gazetted last Thursday, President Mugabe strengthened the roles of Zanu-PF ministers in the government where power must be shared equally.

At least four ministers from the MDC formations were left without any Acts of Parliament to administer, while one Zanu-PF minister superintends over 94 Acts.

MDC secretary general and Finance minister Tendai Biti said they would not recognise the gazette, as it had not passed through proper Cabinet processes.

Unilateral right

“Our view, as a party, is that the issue of allocation of mandates is not somebody’s unilateral right, but an executive process whose matrix is shared between the President and Prime Minister,” said Mr Biti.

“This business of castrating other ministers cannot happen.”

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa, who was one of the biggest victims, said the move was an attempt by Zanu-PF to make him “a minister in name without any responsibilities”.

He said the move was against the spirit and letter of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), which led to the formation of the inclusive government where Zanu-PF and the two MDCs share ministries.

“The insinuation is that it is the gazetting of a Zanu-PF exclusive arrangement where all and everything is taken to Zanu-PF,” said Mr Chamisa, who is also the minister of Information and Communication Technology.

Ministerial mandates

“I am naked. I have been stripped naked; the next thing is that I will be dismembered. I hope the principals will look at this. We cannot have this business of gazetting unilateralism.”

The embattled leader also seized the administration of the controversial Interception of Communication Act, which would give him powers to spy on emails of ordinary Zimbabweans.

The re-allocation of ministerial mandates came hardly a few weeks after President Mugabe’s office instructed ministers to stop reporting to the Prime Minister.