HARARE – Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube on Sunday accused MDC vice president Tendai Biti of “lacking sophistication” following searing criticism of the treasury chief in London.
Ncube lost his rag after Biti, a former finance minister, reportedly told a United Kingdom-based internet news website that “Mthuli is a loudmouth that doesn’t have a connection with its brain, and the economy has found him out.”
Biti is also quoted as saying: “This is about realism, this is about intelligence and this is about honesty. These three things are lacking in Mthuli Ncube.”
Ncube, responding on Twitter, appeared to have wrongly assumed Biti had made the comments at the Royal Institute of International Affairs’ Chatham House, an independent policy institute based in London. Biti did speak at a book launch at Chatham House on June 5, but the pointed criticism of Ncube was made in an interview with a news website.
Ncube blasted: “Biti’s choice of crude language not only reveals his analytical deficiencies but also demonstrates lack of sophistication and poise normally associated with a global platform such as Chatham House. He has much to learn. However, this may take a while.”
Ncube was last September appointed as one of the technocrats in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s cabinet following disputed elections in July.
The economy has tanked since then, and Biti – credited with stabilising the economy as finance minister between 2009 and 2013 – has sharpened his criticism of Ncube, with the two men regularly sparring in Parliament.
On May 31, Biti said on Twitter: “Having spent a few days quizzing Emmerson’s lot in Parliament, it’s quite clear that the country is doomed. The whole bunch are cruel, clueless quislings.”
