Harare — PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai pulled a shocker last week by axing four top party officials from his allocation of Cabinet ministers and redeployed others in a reshuffle that has set tongues wagging, only 16 months after they had been sworn into office.

Analysts say the positional changes, if handled properly, could rejuvenate the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) side of the inclusive government as well as mend rifts within the factionalism-prone party ahead of fresh elections thought to be held next year.

But the reshuffle may as well be the Achilles' heel for the MDC-T assuming that there were other considerations that motivated it other than non-performance of those recalled by the party or the need to strengthen the MDC-T as alleged by the premier.

The next elections could therefore provide the litmus test to gauge the impact of the reshuffle on the MDC-T power dynamics.

Both President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai have hinted that fresh elections are around the corner to deal with the inconclusive 2008 presidential elections that led to the consummation of the present shot-gun marriage between ZANU-PF and the two MDC formations at the behest of the Southern African Development Community and the African Union.

While the ageing ZANU-PF leader has intimated that fresh elections would be held with or without a new constitution, the MDC-T leader prefers the adoption of a new supreme law to precede any plebiscite.

In what analysts view as a precursor to the preparations for the next elections, the premier fired Elias Mudzuri from the energy portfolio; former housing minister, Fidelis Mhashu; former Deputy Minister of Youth Development, Thamsanqa Mahlangu, and former Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs, Evelyn Masaiti, in a surprise reshuffle.

Analysts said the former trade unionist, who rose to prominence at the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions where he was the secretary-general before taking the gamble into politics, was taking steps to assert his authority on the party and government by bringing closer some of his trusted lieutenants whom he had overlooked when the coalition government was constituted in February last year.

By the same token, the Prime Minister is also firing warning shots against non-performers including those perceived to be burning the midnight oil in order to undermine his leadership.

Whether the reshuffle would assuage sceptical voters still remains to be seen.

There is, however, a general consensus among the MDC-T critics that the party, which nearly upset ZANU-PF in the harmonised polls in March 2008, has been weakening since it agreed to enter the government of national unity (GNU).

The party has hopelessly failed to reign in on ZANU-PF's excesses to the extent that critics now allege its leadership has joined the gravy train.

The MDC-T has all but admitted that it is being treated like a junior partner in the coalition which has not resonated well with those who had wished for the promised democratic change.

MDC-T run councils, be they urban or rural, have also been rocked by cancerous corruption, dealing a hammer blow to the confidence that had been invested in the Prime Minist-er's party.

The re-deployment of the party's national organising secretary, Mudzuri; youth leader, Mahlangu; Women's Affairs secretary, Masaiti, and Mhashu, is therefore being seen as rebooting confidence in the party.

Ernest Mudzengi is one of those who believe the reshuffle was influenced more by the dynamics within the MDC-T than in government.

"It seems to be an act in which the MDC president wants to assert and safeguard his authority and control at the party level in the run-up to the next MDC-T congress," said Mudzengi, a Harare-based political analyst.

To the ordinary Zimbabwean, the reshuffle is a plus for Tsvangirai who is now being seen as assertive and dynamic.

Unlike President Mugabe who is known for keeping deadwood in his Cabinet and rewarding loyalty, Tsvangirai is being applauded for not hesitating to grab the bull by its horns and for debunking the myth that there are sacred cows within the MDC-T's rank and file.

Tsvangirai replaced Mudzuri with industrialist, Elton Mangoma, the former minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion; Mhashu with Giles Mutsekwa, the former Co-Home Affairs Minister; Masaiti with Jessie Majome, the former Deputy Minister of Justice while Tongai Matutu, the Masvingo Central legislator, took over from Mahlangu.

Mahlangu had shot himself in the foot by being implicated in the theft of a cellphone belonging to firebrand war veteran, Joseph Chinot-imba. The case opened a Pandora's Box amid testimonies that brought into question Mahlangu's appropriateness for the portfolio.

Mt Pleasant Senator, Obert Gutu, was appointed Deputy Minister of Justice to checkmate ZANU-PF legal guru, Patrick Chinamasa, whose legal prowess at the Justice and Legal Affairs Ministry is said to have vexed Majome, a qualified lawyer.

Jameson Timba, Tsvang-irai's alleged blue-eyed boy and an authoritative member of his so-called kitchen cabinet, was promoted to Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office while MDC-T deputy secretary-general, Tapiwa Mashakada, is now the Minister of Investment Promotion and Economic Planning, taking over from Mangoma.

It is the elevation of Theresa Makone to Home Affairs that has set tongues wagging, but analysts were agreed that Tsvangirai rung the changes to embolden himself in the party and the government, after complaints that the GNU was not firing from all cylinders as had been anticipated by the generality of the population which voted for him and the MDC-T.

While the standard practice the world over favours performance appraisals to assess the effectiveness of public office bearers, the reshuffle by the MDC-T leader has a lot of political connotations, which could either be real or perceptive.

"Government ministers and officials are now being subjected to a performance measurement matrix, which enhances public accountability and improves service delivery. So the move is really relevant to positive global trends, which are aimed at enhancing governance," observed Trevor Maisiri, a local analyst.

Maisiri, however, said the measurement criterion of performance was somehow something that did not really seem to be clear in the Prime Minister's considerations.

Firstly, most of the ministers are working with government structures that are purely partisan and therefore their isolated performances can either be drowned or neutralised by the civil service machinery within which they are supposed to work through.

"I hope in his measurement criteria, the Prime Minister took into account such difficulties and structural challenges to the performance of government duties," said Maisiri.

The timing of the reshuffle has also raised more questions than answers. It has coincided with the eruption of power struggles within the faction-ridden MDC-T.

Sources privy to the power dynamics within the MDC-T allege that Mudzuri is one of the senior officials in the party who harbour presidential ambitions.

Whether this, among other reasons, contributed to his sacking from Cabinet, can only be answered with the passage of time.

Maisiri said regardless of the power plays within the MDC-T, the replacement of Mutsekwa with Makone at the Home Affairs Ministry was justified.

Mutsekwa had been uncharacteristically overshadowed by Kembo Mohadi, the ZANU-PF Co-Home Affairs Minister.

"He (Mutsekwa) flip-flopped on a lot of issues when he should have been decisive. Theresa Makone is, however, the 'Iron Lady' in the MDC-T structures and her resilience and forceful nature will at least cause some discomfort for some long established arrogance in the Home Affairs realms," said Maisiri.

Shocked by the reshuffle, some of the axed MDC-T ministers have intimated that their removal from ministerial positions was crude and unjustified. Maisiri agrees.

He said it was not very strategic to make such politically sensitive announcements in public before the affected persons were cushioned of the effects of what was to come.

"Mahlangu actually professed ignorance of the reshuffle, which had so crudely affected him. He actually claimed that he was at a family member's funeral when he received a call on the issue from the press.

"Politics is crude by nature, but there must be space for heart-felt consideration of the effects of such moves on the persons involved.

"The justification of the reshuffle can be overshadowed by the nature and approach taken resulting in deeply setting political implications which may not which may not surface immediately, but may live to haunt the MDC-T in the medium to long-term," he said.

It is, however, unlikely that the disgruntled former ministers and their sympathisers would forge a splinter group, as happened in 2005 when disgruntled MDC officials formed the MDC-M breakaway group led Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara.

In order for them to safeguard their political lives for now, their best option is to remain covered by the MDC-T brand. To jump ship at this moment may amount to committing political suicide, according to analysts.

The institution of the MDC-T is very strongly branded by the face of Prime Minister Tsvangirai, who is considered the cornerstone of the democratic challenge in Zimbabwe. Hence those peeved by his decisions, rightly or wrongly, are likely to continue to be a part of the party mechanism, but their commitment levels may yield downwards as their levels of confidence and trust in the party system would have been shaken by the manner in which the reshuffle was hastily pursued and communicated, without making prior preparation for the intra-personal effects.

Most of them will start to think about their long-term relevance to the party and may not make immediate moves, but their long-term considerations will surely be premised on how the dismissals were handled, analysts say.

Phillip Pasirayi, a political commentator, said by continuously reviewing the performance of his party and lieutenants in the coalition government, the Prime Minister was trying to introduce a new way of thinking within the Zimbabwe body politic.

"It's a different way of thinking where we have to call a spade a spade. I hope ZANU-PF is also taking a leaf from the premier that those who fail to deliver should be relieved of their duties. For far too long we have had ZANU-PF deadwood continuing to occupy higher offices all because of patronage. We should move our politics to that level where people are now appointed to Cabinet based on their credentials and not merely chanting party slogans and singing at political rallies," said Pasirayi.

"The Prime Minister is reminding us that it is not the norm to have the same people recycled time and again as government ministers even when they have nothing to offer."