Chinamasa's number up as Mugabe cabinet reshuffle looms

President Robert Mugabe is contemplating a Cabinet reshuffle that could see Patrick Chinamasa axed as finance minister and replaced by former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono, according to Zanu-PF sources.

Gono has already been endorsed by the Zanu-PF politburo for a senatorial position in Manicaland to replace the late Kumbirai Kangai who died last year.

Although Gono was not initially on the list of candidates appointed by the party for the senatorial post - which Zanu-PF is entitled to under the country's new proportional representation system -it was Mugabe who pushed for Manicaland to put him on the list.

In terms of a presidential proclamation that expired last December Shadreck Chipanga, a senior party member, should have replaced Kangai.

However a Zanu-PF politburo member claims that Cabinet appointments are a guessing game because they are not discussed by the politburo and "often even Mugabe's lieutenants are not informed in advance".

But the odds are stacked against Chinamasa in particular and to a certain extent Energy minister Dzikamai Mavhaire.