PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is taking political brickbats from his party’s senior leadership after apparently apologising to President Robert Mugabe over a boycott of last week’s cabinet meeting by MDC ministers.
Furious officials have sought a clarification from Tsvangirai amid rising tensions in the party following another row last week pitting him against Finance Minister Tendai Biti.
MDC ministers pulled out of the Cabinet meeting after it was brought forward by a day because Mugabe was leaving for an African Union summit in Libya.
Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe said the decision to hold the cabinet meeting on Monday and not the traditional Tuesday was a Zanu PF plot to deny Tsvangirai an opportunity to chair cabinet.
Tsvangirai publicly supported the boycott by his ministers, saying he “understands their frustrations and concerns”.
But President Mugabe, in an interview with the state-run Herald newspaper on Monday, claimed Tsvangirai had apologised to him.
He told the Herald: “We talked a bit about it with the Prime Minister and he apologised for it, and thought they should have come and if they had any grievances, aired their grievances in the meeting.
“It was a surprise to me to tell you the truth. I don’t know whether this is going to be the order of doing things. It’s insolence on one hand, but it’s also abysmal ignorance on the other.”
The report sparked feverish activity among senior MDC officials who say the Prime Minister’s message is increasingly at odds with the party line.
One minister said Tsvangirai was “causing agony” in the party.
“It’s a big problem. The team in cabinet is not speaking the same language as the Prime Minister and if Mugabe’s statement is anything to go by, then expect fireworks in the party,” said the minister who spoke to New Zimbabwe.com on condition of anonymity.
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