Controversial businessman and ZANU PF benefactor Kuda Tagwirei risks President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s wrath for insinuating that he lacks political shrewdness as shown in his cabinet appointments.
Tagwirei revealed his thoughts in a leaked Soundcloud audio recorded during a telephone conversation with the equally controversial Norton legislator Temba Mliswa.
In the audio, Tagwirei is referred to as Mnangagwa’s nephew while Mliswa calls the President his brother.
Tagwirei told Mliswa that Mnangagwa made a poor decision in appointing former Zimbabwe Agricultural Society Chief executive officer Dr Anxious Masuka as the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement. He said:
He (President Mnangagwa) tells me about Masuka a week before (the appointment) but I tell him that Lands ministry requires a political appointment.
It can make you win or lose an election. Masuka cannot campaign on your behalf. I thought Haritatos was a better candidate as Minister of Lands.
Mliswa argued that Mnangagwa’s predecessor, the late Robert Mugabe was better because he understood the importance of appointing close associates and party stalwarts to key positions. He said:
That is where they are different from Mugabe, who would only appoint people he knew very well and were ready to work for the party.
Now he ends up appointing Soda Zhemu as Minister of Energy just because he has a master of administration degree and has worked for Cottco. It doesn’t mean anything.