Zimbabwe’s former information minister, reputed to be the mastermind behind Zimbabwe’s harsh media laws, has rejoined President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF, the party said Friday.
Jonathan Moyo, currently Zimbabwe’s sole independent lawmaker, had been welcomed back into the fold, said Ephraim Masawi, Zanu-PF
spokesperson.
“The politburo considered the application by professor Jonathan Moyo to rejoin Zanu-PF which was unanimously endorsed,” Masawi told a news conference.
Moyo is the only independent MP in Zimbabwe’s 210-seat Parliament where Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has a razor-thin edge with 100 lawmakers to
Zanu-PF’s 99. A breakaway MDC faction holds 10 seats.
He is blamed by critics for crafting Zimbabwe’s tough media laws that saw several private newspapers fold during his tenure as information minister.
Moyo quit the party after falling out with Mugabe in 2005 after opting to contest as an independent candidate in parliamentary elections.
Zimbabwe formed a unity government in February.
New Constitution
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the country is on track to draw up a new Constitution, the head of the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) parliamentary forum said on Friday, but he did not say when the charter is expected to be adopted. The form the new Constitution should take is a major bone of contention between rival parties in the unity government.
In July riot police had to break up clashes between delegates attending a constitutional convention — a sign of the tensions between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
Zimbabweans hope a new charter, replacing one drawn up in 1979 before independence from Britain, will strengthen the role of Parliament, curtail the president’s powers and guarantee civil, political and media freedom as the country tries to rebuild its ruined economy. – AFP