Mugabe to wield the axe?

President Robert Mugabe has announced an imminent reshuffle to his Cabinet – the first since 2015 – and likely the last ahead of key elections next year. He recently claimed that foreign currency and fuel shortages and rising prices were the work of traitors in the top ranks of his own ruling party. There is growing speculation that Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa is in the firing line, particularly after he repeated a claim by his supporters that he was poisoned at a rally in August. It is rumoured that former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo (an ally of Grace Mugabe) will get his post back. A report on the News24 site note that this would certainly strengthen the hand of the anti-Mnangagwa faction which has until now taken a major battering at the hands of state media. And analyst Brezh Malaba has suggested that the First Lady will receive a Cabinet post.