Mugabe sweats as economy dies

A well placed source said yesterday that President Robert Mugabe and his close lieutenants were clueless in their efforts to resuscitate the economy.

He also confirmed that he feels for Patrick Chinamasa, a reformist, who realises that Zimbabwe's leadership should engage the West to save the country unlike hardliners like War Veterans minister Christopher Mutsvangwa who are resisting engagement with Western countries, the IMF and the World Bank.

At a recent breakfast discussion in Harare, Mutsvangwa said he did not understand the logic behind the Bretton Woods institution's "sudden interest" in Zimbabwe.

Mutsvangwa also dismissed Chinamasa's efforts to engage the West, describing the rapprochement as nothing else but "regime change wrapped as a present".

Analysts say the inconsistencies in government over economic issues were a reflection of its brutal succession wars.