Free your lieutenants, Makoni urges Mugabe

Opposition Mavambo Kusile frontman and former finance Minister Simba Makoni has called on President Robert Mugabe to "free" his lieutenants as the nonagenarian's final contribution to a better Zimbabwe.

Makoni, who quit Zanu-PF in frustration at Mugabe's refusal to give others a chance back in 2008, told journalists at his monthly briefing now known as Conversations with Simba, that Mugabe had no significant role left to play in the crafting of a working Zimbabwe except to unshackle his comrades.

Precious quote: "Problems are not solved by the same minds that created them. I have respect for Mugabe as a father.

"I have a lot of issues about what he is doing to our country but the creation of the future of Zimbabwe that we all yearn for is beyond him not just because of the fact that he is 90 but because of his mind-set is not able to look at the future."