31/10/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has reportedly recalled Zimbabwean envoys seconded by the two MDC formations under the shaky coalition agreement sponsored by the regional SADC grouping.
The ambassadorial posts were some of the cushy pickings Zanu PF and the MDCs shared as part of the coalition deal forced on them by SADC after violent but inconclusive elections in 2008.
The coaltion arrangement ended acrimnously with the July 31 elections which were won with a landslide by Mugabe but are dismissed as fraudulent by his rivals.
Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T party contributed four ambassadors while the Welshman Ncube-led MDC weighed in with one.
MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora confirmed his party’s envoys had been told they were returning home but referred further questions to Tsvangirai’s international advisor Jameson Timba who professed ignorance over the issue.
Said Mwonzora: “It is true I have heard that some have been recalled but although I am not quite certain about this some have remained in their postings.
“I am told Hilda Mufudze is one of those who have been spared but talk to Timba he is the best person on the issue.”
Mufudze is currently Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Sudan.
Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Joey Bimha was not available for comment.
However last month Bimha said Zimbabwe’s 47 foreign representatives would be recalled adding it was likely that Mugabe – swept back into power by a landslide on July 31 – would not be re-appointing the MDC ambassadors.
“As it stands, they signed contracts to serve for four years in 2009, but these contracts have now lapsed,” Bimha said at the time.
The other MDC-T envoys include the scandal-hit Jacqueline Zwambila, ambassador to Australia; Tsvangirai’s cousin Hebson Makuvise who was sent to Germany and Mabel Ngulani was made ambassador to Nigeria.
The Ncube-led MDC’s Trudy Stevenson was stationed in Senegal.
A senior official in the Foreign Affairs Ministry who refused to be identified confirmed that letters of recall were this week dispatched to the envoys and it is now only a matter of time before new representatives are appointed.
Labels: AMBASSADORS, DOUGLAS MWONZORA, MDC
posted by MrK @ 5:43 PM
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