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The decision was reached after an MDC national standing committee meeting in Harare yesterday.
The meeting followed a party congress that saw Prof Ncube — who was the secretary-general — elevated to the MDC presidency.
New party secretary-general Ms Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga will move from the Regional Integration Ministry to replace Prof Ncube as Industry and Commerce Minister.
Ms Misahairabwi-Mushonga will also head the MDC’s negotiating team in the inter-party dialogue and in the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee where she will be deputised by Qhubani Moyo.
The party will today write to President Mugabe to ask him to effect their State executive recommendations.
Prof Mutambara’s demotion brings to an end spe-culation on Prof Ncube’s intentions since he took over party leadership this month.
Addressing a Press conference after the decision was reached, Prof Ncube said: “We are re-deploying our team in Government and that is the decision of the party.
“The redeployment is the consequence of the desire of the congress.
“The party deploys its members and we expect Prof Mutambara, as a loyal party member, to abide by the decision of the party.
“The President (President Mugabe) will be notified of the developments and we don’t expect any problems from the other political parties in the GPA.
“We have no doubt President Mugabe understands the imperatives of the GPA that the party must be officially represented by its most senior officials in Government,” he said.
Prof Ncube added: “The recalling of Mutambara is not a demotion but an illustration of democracy. We, the people of Zimbabwe and Africa, are strange — recalling is not new; it has happened in Australia and Israel.
“One time you lead, the next time you fall; that is politics. The party is clear on its position that I take over as DPM and it does not care whether I hold that position for just a day or a week.”
Asked to comment on the significance of assuming the deputy premiership with elections expected in coming months, Prof Ncube said Zimbabwe did not need to go to polls right now.
“The party has also resolved that we will not reinvent the 2008 scenario.
“We are now suffering from negotiation fatigue, so let’s wait for the right time,” he said.
Prof Ncube said he was not DPM until President Mugabe swore him into office, but the party’s decision was final.
He said the changes in the party were procedural and people should not see them as a victimisation of Prof Mutambara, who himself had been put in that position by the party.
Prof Mutambara could not be reached for comment as he was said to be in Switzerland on private business.
His ouster from the leadership has been met with resistance.
One of the most outspoken critics, former deputy national organising secretary Mr Morgan Changamire, said Prof Mutambara was a victim of tribalism.
“Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Prof Ncube are very vindictive and cruel.
“The way they demeaned Prof Mutambara and humiliated him reeks of a much larger conspiracy and we are not going to let them get away with it.
“We are going to fight them to the bitter end. They have just entered a lion’s den and they will not get out of it.
“This is the end of their political careers,” said Mr Changamire.
Mr Changamire alleged that the German government was funding Prof Ncube.
He said Prof Ncube’s backers were not comfortable with Prof Mutambara’s Pan-African views.
However, he did not say how they would oppose Prof Ncube’s elevation to the deputy premiership.
According to the GPA that led to the formation of the inclusive Government, President Mugabe is the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
In the hierarchy, he is deputised by two Vice Presidents from Zanu-PF and beneath that there is a Prime Minister from MDC-T and then two Deputy PMs from MDC-T and MDC.
While the GPA makes it clear that President Mugabe will head the executive and Mr Morgan Tsvangirai will be the PM, it gives the respective parties the leeway to recommend who they want as VPs and DPMs.
However, constitutional law expert Dr Lovemore Madhuku has pointed out that even then, at the end of the day the power to appoint any member of the executive vests in President Mugabe as the Head of State and Government.-The Herald
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