Stories

President Robert Mugabe and his negotiators Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche were refusing to concede any ground on the four key ministries that the parties were haggling over, according to Movement for Democratic Change secretary-general Tendai Biti.

(66 VIEWS)

Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has been a loyal member of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front since the 1960s and has been in and out of cabinet since the 1980s. He reportedly belongs to the elite group of people like Simba Makoni and the late Witness Mangwende who fundraised for the party during their student days and were later rewarded by high posts in the government. Mumbengegwi has been a deputy minister, a cabinet minister and a diplomat in some of the most powerful postings like the United Nations and the United Kingdom. But there are only a dozen cables about him. Here they are:

(60 VIEWS)

Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi had a cordial meeting with new United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray at which he said he hoped the two nations would have improved relations.

(47 VIEWS)

Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi was one of the senior Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front ministers who boycotted Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s launch of his 100-day plan for Zimbabwe’s economic recovery.

(76 VIEWS)

Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, who had been Foreign Minister from 2005, retained his post in the inclusive government joining President Robert Mugabe’s band of mostly Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front loyalists.

(56 VIEWS)

China instructed its ambassador to the United Nations Wang to veto the United States-sponsored resolution for United Nations Security Council sanctions on Zimbabwe, after its disputed 2008 elections, because South African President Thabo Mbeki had told Beijing that the United Kingdom and the United States were actively discouraging the Movement for Democratic Change from negotiating with President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.

(68 VIEWS)

Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said the Zimbabwe’s efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger through redistributing resources had met with unjustified vilification from those who only wished to protect minority and foreign interests.

(115 VIEWS)

A document outlining the role of the Prime Minister was initialled by President Robert Mugabe and the leader of smaller faction of the Movement for Democratic Change Arthur Mutambara in August 2008 but the leader of the larger faction Morgan Tsvangirai refused to sign because he felt that as Prime Minister he should be head of cabinet.

(49 VIEWS)

United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell walked out of a briefing with Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi after the minister refused to give an assurance that diplomats would be allowed to ask questions after the briefing.

(58 VIEWS)

A former Member of Parliament who belonged to the Arthur Mutambara faction told United States embassy officials that Mutambara seemed a little mentally off and should be replaced as leader of the faction.

(40 VIEWS)