The Insider

President Robert Mugabe wants reform but he has no power to enforce the reforms and is heavily influenced by people like Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, according to Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi.

(61 VIEWS)

Zimbabwe was ranked 158 out of 181 countries, one of the worst performers in Southern Africa, considered for ease of doing business by the World Bank Group’s Doing Business 2009 report.

(269 VIEWS)

Zimbabwe was a nightmare of a failed state but its infrastructure was still intact and it would recover quickly if the leadership shifted, the European Union Political Directors’ Troika said just a month before the formation of the inclusive government.

(79 VIEWS)

The Deputy Minister of Water Resources and Development Walter Mzembi told United States embassy officials in January 2009 that it was a mistake for the government to take over the Harare water supply saying this was a directive from President Robert Mugabe.

(167 VIEWS)

Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai acknowledged the resilience of President Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front a month before the formation of the inclusive government and added that former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo had told him that he thought Mugabe wanted to die in office.

(52 VIEWS)

President Robert Mugabe cleaned up his cabinet, a month before the formation of the inclusive government, both to save himself from the embarrassment of dismissing them later and to put pressure on the Movement for Democratic Change to make up their mind by showing that he could go it alone.

(53 VIEWS)

Swaziland’s Prime Minister Barnabus Dlamini did not believe that President Robert Mugabe would last more than three or four months in office though the three major political parties in Zimbabwe had signed the Global Political Agreement three months earlier.

(90 VIEWS)

President Robert Mugabe’s erratic treatment of foreign economic interests could see China, which has hitherto shown that it is willing to put its need for markets and raw materials above the need to promote internationally accepted norms of behaviour; change its uncritical stance towards pariah states like Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burma and Iran.

(74 VIEWS)

Movement for Democratic Change leader and Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai received his passport on Christmas Day 2008 after a seven month-wait.

(45 VIEWS)