HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa will reshuffle his Cabinet imminently because “some ministries are being messed up”, Deputy Information Minister Energy Mutodi claimed on Tuesday.

Mutodi, in a Twitter outburst, put ministerial colleagues on notice, claiming their days were numbered just three months after the Cabinet was named on September 7.

The bizarre post came just hours after the Zimbabwe Newspaper Group, which is superintended over by the ministry, announced senior editorial changes that left Mutodi’s favourites in the wilderness.

Herald editor Caesar Zvayi, for whom Mutodi has been fighting in the background to save his job since October, was shunted to a newly created post of editor at large in charge of supplements and other money-making specials.

At The Sunday Mail, editor Mabasa Sasa was moved to head a syndication unit which Zimpapers said would sell some of its content locally and abroad.

The changes were pushed through by Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa and the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Ndavaningi Mangwana.

“CABINET RESHUFFLE: After all what has happened, it’s now clear that some ministries are being messed up and President Mnangagwa has to take action. A reshuffle is coming and those messing up your days are numbered,” Mutodi said on Twitter.

Details have emerged of how Mutodi has been trying to scuttle the editorial changes since October.

In October, when it emerged that Zvayi in particular would be removed from the Herald, Mutodi is alleged to have called Zimpapers CEO Pikirayi Deketeke who was already in Bulawayo to have letters signed by board chairman Delma Lupepe.

“He told Deketeke that he had spoken to Mnangagwa who had not been informed of the intended changes, and asked that they be put on hold,” a source familiar with the developments told ZimLive.

A confident Mutodi declared in a subtweet to Mutsvangwa at the time: “Those sighting Caesar Zvayi at Zimpapers are not for the good of the Herald. Not for the good of ED government. We stand for meritocracy not grudges, nepotism and proxy leadership.”

Rumours of a Cabinet reshuffle have been swelling, after the Mnangagwa government completed 100 days in office last week.

Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo’s failing health which has kept him away from office since September has also been cited as a possible trigger for a reshuffle, with Mutsvangwa touted as his replacement.