"I Don't Know How Many Ministers We Have" - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe

At a luncheon after the opening of parliament, Mugabe not only admitted that he did not know how many ministers his and Morgan Tsvangirai's bloated Inclusive Government has, but also distanced himself from his own parliament-opening speech saying "That was not my speech, I was forced to read it. I was reading other people's views." He also falsely claimed Mavambo, the party of Simba Makoni was complaining about being left out of the Inclusive Government, which he said was "also Exclusive".



Harare, Zimbabwe, 07 October 2009

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe has admitted that his and Morgan Tsvangirai's Inclusive Government is bloated. So bloated, in fact, that he says "I don't know how many minister we have and thoughts they have on development."

Admitting to my assessment here yesterday that hi speech was largely a load of nonsense, Mugabe also tried to disown the speech that he delivered in parliament yesterday:

"The speech I made in parliament was not my speech. I was forced to make the speech. I was reading other people's views."

Which of course means that nothing he said during that speech in parliament is to be taken seriously.

Mugabe made all these remarks at a luncheon that he hosted at the former Sheraton Hotel (now Rainbow Towers) in Harare after the opening of parliament. Guests at the luncheon waited for hours, until around 3p.m., in order to start lunch, because Mugabe had gone back to his Helensvale home to change out of his ceremonial regalia and put on a new suit.

Some of those who know the routine, like Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, could be seen in one of the Rainbow Towers restaurants eating their lunch before the State lunch started, as others complained and waited.

Mugabe also claimed during his speech (falsely at that), that the Mavambo party of Simba Makoni had complained about being left out of the GNU and the Inclusive government, saying that he has "said that this Inclusive Government is also exclusive."

As anyone who has been following Mavambo and Simba Makoni will recall, the presidential candidate and former Finance Minister has categorically stated that he would not join this Inclusive Government as presently constituted because, even though he was the originator of the call for a Transitional Authority, the skewed power "sharing" Inclusive Government was never what he had mind.

Makoni has pointed out in three interviews since this Government began that Mugabe should not have been part of the government, let alone President, "The Solution", Commander-in-Chief and Head of Government with all his dictatorial powers intact.

Because this is not a Transitional Government, but one in which Mugabe is merely seeking breathing room after a drubbing from Morgan Tsvangirai in March so that he can further entrench his position, it serves no useful purpose except as a bridge to the past, to yet another era of Mugabe, intolerance, greed, corruption, failure to develop the country, failure to improve the lives of Zimbabweans, failure to improve the economy and (especially important for Makoni), failure to bring out genuine national healing where perpetrators of violence are seen to be held accountable in order to discourage violence from ever rearing its head again.

So Mugabe's jibe at Mavambo was nothing less than the rantings of a senile mind, which can not even recall how many ministers are on this bloated gravy train. That he could not tell us "what their thoughts on development are" also shows you that this Government is doing nothing in the offices that occupies, except passing time while Mugabe and ZANU PF regroup, sending bands of armed thugs as they are currently doing into the rural areas to camp out in preparation for the next election, in which Mugabe has confirmed he will run again.


If the measure of who is in this moribund Inclusive Government is who "won" the election and who "lost", then Mugabe should not be in it at all, much less in it as Head of State and Government with dictatorial powers intact. He is the last person who should talk about losing an election.

As I have pointed out on this blog before, it is fact that Simba Makoni won 33 percent of the Presidential votes in March, a fact that was revealed by Mushangwe, a senior official in the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission last year.

For revealing this, Mushangwe was found two weeks later tortured, mutilated and dead.

Why does Mugabe not talk about that?


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